Pitch report: Nagpur wicket gets ‘poor’ from ICC

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 1

The controversy over the turning pitches in the current series against South Africa has taken a serious turn, as the International Cricket Council match referee, Jeff Crowe, has rated the track for the third Test at Nagpur as “poor”. The ICC has informed the BCCI of this matter, and the Indian board now has 14 days to respond. 

The match lasted merely 247.5 overs and ended within three days, India winning by 124 runs. The match began on a pitch that was described as a “third-day pitch” by several South African players, and it caused sharp turn from the first session. South Africa, bowling first, had two spinners operating within the first hour. India were bowled out for 215, before South Africa collapsed to 79. Set 310 to win, South Africa survived 89.5 overs in their second innings but still suffered a heavy defeat. 

Thirty-three of the 40 wickets fell to the spinners, including all 20 South African wickets. Crowe’s report included “concerns” raised by the match officials, and will lead to a review of the pitch. 

“ICC General Manager Geoff Allardice and Chief Match Referee Ranjan Madugalle will consider all the evidence, including studying video footage of the match, before reaching their decision on whether or not the pitch was poor and if so, whether a penalty should be imposed,” an ICC statement said. The first-time penalty for a “poor” pitch can include a fine of $15,000.

3-day Tests

Excluding the washed out second Test at Bengaluru, India have racked up five consecutive three-day wins at home. Pravin Hingnikar, who was the curator at Nagpur until August this year, said the pitch prepared by his successor was not good. “On this pitch, on the first day of the match, dust was coming out from the word go,” Hingnikar told The Tribune. “It should not be like that. The wicket should be good enough for batsmen for at least 10 hours. The pitch was prepared to support the spinners, to give them the advantage of playing at home. However, we should look into it so that the match should last for five days.”

Conflict of interest

A few days ago, BCCI president Shashank Manohar, who is also the ICC chairman, had talked about a conflict of interest in his two positions. The Nagpur pitch episode illustrates this perfectly — the ICC has written to the BCCI about the pitch in Nagpur, where the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) is based. In other words, Manohar’s own international association (ICC) has written to his national association (BCCI) about problems in his own state association (VCA). Which means Manohar could well have taken Crowe’s complaint into his right hand, transferred it to his left hand, and then placed it on the table in his office in Nagpur to read it as a VCA member.

What is a poor pitch?