With the third Test between India and Australia concluding well inside three days, the ICC match referee Chris Broad rated the pitch used for the fixture as ‘poor’ meaning the Holkar Stadium was punished with three demerit points by cricket’s global governing body. The BCCI though could lodge an appeal against the verdict.
“We will take stock of the situation and decide,” a BCCI official was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
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The BCCI has 14 days to appeal as per the ICC regulations. If the venue ends up accumulating a total of five demerit points over a rolling period of five years, it will be suspended from hosting international matches for a year.
“The pitch (at Holkar Stadium), which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start. The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match,” Broad had said in his report.
The Indian team won the toss and opted to bat first but its innings folded inside 34 overs for just 109 runs in the second Test. In response, Australia fared better but were bowled out for 197 losing six wickets inside the morning session of the second day’s play.
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India then made 163-all out, setting Australia a target of 76 which the tourists sprinted to 18.5 overs for the loss of just one wicket. The fourth and final Test of the series will be played from March 9 in Ahmedabad.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had last year made a successful appeal against ‘below average’ rating given to Rawalpindi pitch for the first Test against England which Ben Stokes’ men won in a thrilling fashion thanks to their aggressive batting and a sporting declaration.
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