Following Public Outburst by Rohit Sharma, ICC Evaluates Cape Town Pitch As
The second Test between South Africa and India ended after 1.5 days, and much has been written and said about the pitch that was utilized. The match ended with Team India winning, but not before they lost 23 wickets on the first day. The captain of India, Rohit Sharma, has also openly criticized the impartial decisions made by match officials about the early termination of matches both domestically and internationally. Chris Broad, the ICC match referee, has already revealed his assessment for the Newlands pitch.
The pitch used in the second Test match between India and South Africa received a “unsatisfactory” grade from the match referee, who also deducted one demerit point.
“Batting on the pitch at Newlands was rather challenging. Throughout the game, the ball bounced swiftly and occasionally frighteningly, making it challenging to perform shots. A number of batters were struck on the gloves, and the unusual bounce also caused numerous wickets to fall, according to Broad.
The India vs. South Africa Test match in Cape Town was classified as “Unsatisfactory” by the ICC. screenshot.twitter.com/huSzmiHoBN
— @ImTanujSingh/CricketMAN2 9 January 2024
Although a venue loses its ability to host international matches for a year if it receives six demerit points, the demerit point has no immediate consequences.
Irritated with the ICC match referees, Rohit Sharma
With a pointed jab at critics of pitches, Rohit said he didn’t understand why there was so much talk in India when pitches resulted in fast turns. But, match officials and commentators frequently remain silent when games conclude early abroad.
In the press conference following the Cape Town Test, Rohit stated, “We saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that.” “To be honest, I have no problem playing on this type of pitch. As long as people in India remain silent and refrain from discussing Indian pitches excessively, in all honesty.”
“It still amazes me that the pitch in the World Cup final was ranked below ordinary—instead of average. In the final, a batsman scored a hundred there. How could that pitch be bad? Therefore, these are the elements that match officials and the ICC need to investigate and start grading pitches based on what they observe rather than the nations. That is, in my opinion, very significant.
Thus, I sincerely hope that people pay attention to such game-related details and keep their ears and eyes open. To be honest, I support proposals such as this. We wish to test our mettle playing on such surfaces. It is with great pride that we play on pitches like this. Well, but I only want to suggest to be impartial.”
