Big blow to India! ICC instructs pitch curators to minimize home advantage in ODI World Cup

ICC wants to ensure there are competitive matches.

Andy Atkinson examines a pitch (Image via Times of India)

The International Cricket Council’s head curator, Andy Atkinson, wants the pitch curators to reduce the home advantage in the upcoming ICC ODI World Cup. Indian pitches in limited overs are made out of black soil, whereas in Test matches red soil is used.

In the past few years, Indian pitches have come under a lot of scrutiny in the past, with opposing teams usually talking about how dry the pitches have been. The 2017 Pune Test against Australia, the 2021 Pink Ball Test against England in Ahmedabad, the 2022 Pink Ball Test against Sri Lanka in Bangalore and recently, the 2023 Indore Test against Australia came under a lot of criticism for being too spinner friendly. The recent Indore Test against Australia was given a “poor” rating.

Andy Atkinson plans to keep the pitches in such a way that there would be a fair fight between bat and ball. He wants to get competitive matches in the World Cup and has asked the curators to prepare tracks that are favourable for every team.

A BCCI official who was present in the meeting between Atkinson and all ground curators said that Atkinson wants tracks that would last an entire game and should be as sporting as possible.

Anatomy of Indian pitches

IMG COM 20230824 1732 05 3201 — Australian team celebrating a wicket in the 2017 Pune Test (image via The Guardian)

Indian pitches are generally dry, as the red soil has a low percentage of clay. Black soil used in games have a lower percentage of clay present in it compared to countries like England and Australia. With a higher clay percentage, the pitch retains more water and ensures there’s more bounce or the bowlers. This is why many Indian pitches have a low bounce.

Red soil pitches usually has more wear and tear faster than black soil pitches, and this is the reason it is used in home Test matches. Indian spinners are assisted more and many overseas batsmen aren’t comfortable playing spin, ensuring India gets the home advantage. One can notice on the first day itself how much turn is being produced by the spinner.

Black soil is used in limited over games to ensure the matches last the entire 40 overs or 100, depending on the format. There is more clay present in the pitch. The pitches last longer, with the degradation being slower than red soil pitches. These pitches do assist spin over time, as even a black soil pitch degrades over a game. Only difference is it takes longer than the red soil pitch.

With the pitches going to be made of black soil, expect more flat tracks with little help for the bowlers. But as the tournament goes on, the pitches will get a little slower as they will get older. Expect big scores at the start of the tournament, but towards the end, it’ll be harder to bat.

In case you missed: