Sunil Gavaskar has hit out at the double standards in the debate surrounding pitches worldwide.
India won the second Test of their series against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town. On a spicy surface filled with little divots, the ball jagged and bounced around enough to make sure that the Test didn’t last more than a day and a half.
South Africa were bundled out for 55 in the first session of the match, before India lost their last six wickets for no runs. 23 wickets fell on day one of the Test as it turned out to be the shortest completed Test match in the history of the sport.
Naturally, it gave rise to the debate around the quality of pitches and the sustainability of Test cricket. India captain Rohit Sharma said after the match that he doesn’t mind playing on such pitches as long as visiting teams “keep their mouth shut” when they encounter raging turners in India.
Sunil Gavaskar has joined in on the debate, expressing his views in a column for Mid-day. Gavaskar pointed out the double standards in the narratives around Indian pitches and pitches in SENA countries.
Gavaskar mentioned in his column that Shaun Pollock, one of the commentators for the Cape Town Test, had said that the curator “had got it wrong” during his pitch report on day two. The former India captain pointed out that this is a pattern among the SENA (South Africa, England, New Zealand, Australia) countries.
“These kind of excuses that the curator got it wrong is typical of the SENA countries,” Gavaskar wrote. “When our curators make a dry pitch then it’s ‘chicanery’ as a former Australian skipper said last year after the Aussies had been walloped in the first two Test matches.
“So our groundsmen do it deliberately, but their groundsmen just get it wrong. It’s like before the third country umpires came in, where decisions by their umpires were excused as ‘human error’ while our umpires were cheats and ‘Delhi Butchers’ and all such derogatory headlines.”
England are scheduled to head over to India for a five-Test series starting in February. In his column, Gavaskar warned about the English media criticising anything and everything that won’t go the tourists’ way.
“In about three weeks time another Test series starts with a country that has the biggest whinging and moaning media in sport. Anything that doesn’t suit their team will be criticised and allegations will fly thick and fast.”
Gavaskar also agreed with Rohit’s comments after the Cape Town Test: “The Indian skipper Rohit Sharma was spot on when he said after the quick finish in the second Test that he doesn’t mind playing on pitches like the one dished out there as it’s a challenge to play on surfaces different from home.”
Gavaskar alleged that there has long been a conscious effort to undermine India since it became all powerful in the game, and urged the Indian media to go toe-to-toe with their foreign counterparts.
“Ever since India became a power in the sport and rightfully began to assert itself in the ICC boardrooms, there has been a concerted effort to denigrate it by those from the Old Powers. They arrive with an agenda and come what may, will dish out stories for getting the brownie points at home.
“It would be wonderful if our media rises to the challenge and takes them on word for word. That would be a clash to enjoy as thoroughly as the one that will unfold on the ground.
“Is that too much to hope for? We shall soon find out.”
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