File image of Sunil Gavaskar©Twitter
The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at Indore between India and Australia ended in just over two days on Friday with the visitors winning by nine wickets. After the match, the International Cricket Council (ICC) deemed the Holkar Stadium pitch used for the Third Test, which was played under the ICC World Test Championship umbrella, as “poor” according to the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process.
Spinners from both teams enjoyed great help from the surface conducive to spin from the start on the first day, where 14 wickets fell. Of the 31 wickets taken throughout the match, 26 were scalped by the spinners while only four wickets went to pacers, one was run out,” the ICC said in a statement.
“The Holkar Stadium has been given three penalty points as a result after ICC Match referee Chris Broad submitted his report after consulting both Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith, the captains of both teams in the Third Test.”
While admitting that the Indore pitch was difficult to hit, former India captain Sunil Gavaskar questioned the penalties.
“It was a difficult throw to hit. You can see from the scores that it was not an easy throw to hit. I think three penalties is little too hard for the simple reason, if it was such a difficult throw to store.” “You wouldn’t have seen a score of more than 90 between Usman Khawaja and Marnus Labuschagne. You wouldn’t have seen a score of more than 77 on Day 3 if the throw was so impossible,” Gavaskar told India Today.
“Tough field for sure, but that’s what you expect in India. I don’t have exact information either, but when the test match was played in November-December at the Gabba between Australia and South Africa, which also ended in two days, and the The ball flew around. The fast bowlers looked very dangerous. They could have caused serious injury. There was a risk of death on that pitch. I don’t know how many penalties it got and who the match umpire was. But I think there was some sort of parity is needed on how demerits are given.”
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