Australia won the third test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 at Indore by nine wickets. The home side now has a lead of 2-1 against the visitors. At the same time, the Aussies have qualified for the World Test Championship (WTC) final after avoiding a clean sweep in the four-match series.
Former India skipper, Sunil Gavaskar, recently 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.
Gavaskar felt that Indian management should give a little thought to the surface used-
“I think there has to be a little more thought on that. This pitch has backfired in 2012-13 when Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar spun England to a win. I don’t think it’s a great idea to have pitches of this quality,”.
“You want to have pitches where there is a good balance between bat and ball. You want to have a pitch where for the first couple of days, the new-ball bowlers can get some help and the batters can play through the line and score runs. And then from Day 3 and 4, the ball is going to turn a little bit,”. said veteran Indian cricketer.
Indian Captain Rohit Sharma talking about on Indore pitch. pic.twitter.com/tyILIcTLKk
— Tarun Singh Verma ?? (@TarunSinghVerm1) March 3, 2023
The International Cricket Council (ICC), on Friday (March 3), gave ‘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.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen in Ahmedabad. If the pitch in Ahmedabad is a raging turner, then India might go on to win but once again the pitch might get demerit points,” said Gavaskar on the fourth Test match surface.
Earlier, speaking to India Today, the Indian legendary batter asked how many demerit points did ICC provide for the Gabba pitch, he was referring to the match between Australia and South Africa that got completed within two days. The Brisbane pitch in that match was given a below-average rating with just one demerit point whereas Indore Pitch received three demerit points.
“One thing I would like to know, there was this Test match in November in Brisbane Gabba, where the match finished in 2 days. How many demerit points did that pitch get and who was the match referee there? I think 3 demerit points is a little harsh,” he previously said in his statement against the ICC verdict.
The Indore match saw 14 wickets getting lost on the Day 1 of the game with the ball keeping low from the initial 10 overs. Surely the match where the highest score was 60 runs in four innings of the test match, was bowler paradise or more specifically spinner’s heaven
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.