India vs Australia
India vs Australia (Credits: Twitter)

Indian pitches in Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 have been in buzz, especially after the last test at Indore surface got a ‘poor’ rating from ICC. India was not able to pick 20 wickets in the third game of BGT 2023 and lost the game by 9 wickets against Australia.

Former Indian skipper, Sunil Gavaskar thinks the Indian side was unable to bowl out visitors in both innings without their ace pacers like Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami, that’s why the home side preferred dry pitches.

Sunil Gavaskar
Sunil Gavaskar. Image Credits: Twitter

Gavaskar thinks India prepares dry pitches to pick 20 wickets in the match –

“Taking 20 wickets is not going to be easy in India. On a lot of Indian pitches, without your ace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Shami and a slightly inexperienced Mohammed Siraj, I don’t think that bowling attack is such (strong). But with a little bit of help from a dry pitch, India can probably take 20 wickets. I think that is the thinking behind preparing such pitches,” said the former Indian skipper.

Ace Indian pacer Bumrah continues to recover from the back injury in NCA, Bengaluru. He is out of the squad of men in Blue since September 2022. It is speculated the 29-year-old will IPL 2023 and WTC in June, as he is still recovering from the injury. Shami, on the other hand, was replaced by Umesh Yadav in the third test match at Indorer as part of workload management, but reports claim that seamer might be added to the playing XI for the fourth Test match.

“For India to reach the World Test Championship Final, they did not have any other options (than producing turning tracks). If you would have had a strong attack, maybe you could have done something different but your strength is your spinners and therefore I think these pitches are being made. You do not want a flat pitch where the batters go out and dominate. These pitches are testing the temperament of the batters,” he further added.

Earlier, the former India opener expressed his disappointment over ICC rating the Indore pitch ‘poor’ following the third Test of BGT at the Holkar Stadium. But in a quick turn of events, he admitted that the surface used in Indore doesn’t offer a balance between the bat and ball.

The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Friday (March 3), gave a ‘poor’ rating to the pitch in Indore’s Holkar Stadium. The penultimate match of the four-match series ended in two days and a session as Australia beat India by 9 wickets. Earlier, the Indian skipper said in the press conference, that we decide before the series on the kind of surface we have to play.

All the matches ended on Day 3 in the three test matches till now in India vs Australia clash, from Nagpur to Delhi and Indore. Now Men in Blue has to win the last game of BGT 2023 to qualify for the WTC Final in England. Rohit Sharma-led side will take on Australia for the fourth test of BGT at Ahmedabad on 9th March.

Also read: IND vs AUS 2023: Steve Smith Or Pat Cummins? Australia Confirm Their Captain For Ahmedabad Test