Ever since the start of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2022-23, there has been a lot of ‘pitch talk’ What started as rumours has become a full-fledged debate with both camps ranting about the surfaces that are being produced for the Test matches. As the third Test of the series got underway on Wednesday in Indore, once again the focus was on what type of wicket the curators have produced.
And as it turned out, it was a dust bowl. The ball started turning sharply from word go and the average turn in the first session was recorded close to 5 degrees. This behaviour from the wicket drew a lot of flak and criticism from both ends as demands for action arose. Meanwhile, former Australia cricketer Ian Chappell was asked about his opinion on home teams directing pitch curators about what kind of wickets they should curate.
The former Aussie had a no-nonsense reply ready as he called it the “greatest rubbish heard”. "Should players and administrators be telling the curators how to prepare the pitch and what sort of pitch they want? It is the greatest bit of rubbish I have ever heard," Chappell told ESPNCricinfo.
"The pitch should be left to the curator. The curator produces what he thinks is a good pitch, and then you as players get on and play on it. Once you have got the administrators and cricketers telling people what they think should the pitch be, then you are asking for trouble," he added.
Chappell also suggested that "Any player or administrator who goes to a curator and asks for a certain type of pitch should be told to go and jump in the lake.”
Indore pitch to get ‘below average’ rating
Quite obviously, in all likelihood, the ICC match referee Chris Broad will rate the Indore wicket as “below average”. A PTI report has claimed that while the Nagpur and Delhi pitches escaped with average ratings, the Indore pitch is all set to be rated below average.