“Don’t think there was any skulduggery,” Mark Taylor lambasts Sunil Gavaskar’s ‘Gabba’ reminder on ICC’s pitch verdict
He thinks that the Gabba helped both sides, whereas the Indore pitch made the game more of a lottery, which didn't favor India at all.
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IND vs AUS 3rd Test was played in Indore
The first two Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy were played on Nagpur and Delhi tracks respectively. The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) match referee Chris Broad rated them as “average” but deemed the Indore pitch as “poor” with three demerit points. This left the India great Sunil Gavaskar thinking that though the Holkar track was difficult, Aussie players did score runs and stitched partnerships.
Gavaskar called ICC’s decision “harsh”, reminding the apex body of the Gabba pitch in Brisbane which offered excessive bounce during a Test between South Africa and Australia where the latter wrapped up the match within just two days. ICC match referee Richie Richardson rated it “below average”, which Gavaskar thinks was a mild decision because the fast bowlers there looked threatening.
The Gabba is different than the Indian turners which aid the spinners more. A total of 30 wickets fell in the first two days of the Indore Test, with the spinners taking 25 of them, while across the three Tests, spinners scalped 78 wickets from both sides.
Mark Taylor believes Indore pitch made the game a bit more of a lottery
Now former Australia captain Mark Taylor did not seem to agree with Gavaskar’s remarks. He thinks that the Gabba helped both sides, whereas the Indore pitch made the game more of a lottery, which didn’t favor India at all. Taylor believes the Gabba’s surface was a result of the curator’s mistake in judgment.
“I think they’ve got to keep an eye on that sort of stuff because people look at the Gabba this season. The groundsman there just got it wrong,” the former Australian captain was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.
“He left too much grass on it but, in a way, it didn’t favor either side. It would have favored the South African seamers just as much (as Australia) because they’ve got four very good seamers. So I don’t think there was any skulduggery on at the Gabba,” he added.
Notably, Indore wasn’t supposed to host the third Test at first. It was originally slated to take place in Dharamshala but due to outfield issues and bad weather there, it was shifted to Indore. So the Indore groundsmen must have gotten less time to prepare the track.
India have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2-1 and will be hoping to win the fourth Test to become the second finalist for the ICC World Test Championship, where Australia advanced after winning the third Test by nine wickets. The final Test will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad from March 9.
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Gouri Das
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