Whether it’s arrogance because they know they can get away with it or insecurity because they’re unsure if they can win the World Cup, India’s pitch switch for the semi-final against New Zealand was a low blow.
The BCCI’s interference in what is supposed to be an ICC event has been apparent before and during the World Cup and if the host nation goes onto lift the trophy on Sunday at Ahmedabad it will be a tarnished triumph.
Are the Indians that insecure that they needed to play silly buggers with the centre wicket to ensure the match was played on a pitch that suited India?
They were already raging hot favourites with a star-studded line-up which, on a level playing field, had too much firepower for the tradesmanlike Black Caps.
Surely they didn’t need to resort to gamesmanship/dirty pool like this.
They have become cricket’s classless nouveau riche, exploiting their rise in wealth to their advantage irrespective of how the rest of the countries feel or whether it’s acceptable in the mystical Spirit of Cricket ethos.
When you bring in 80-plus percent of the game’s revenue it brings an entitlement that you in fact own the game.
The toothless ICC is no match for the tiger that is India.
For its part, the ICC issued a carefully worded statement to say the late switch from the unused Pitch 7 to Pitch 6, which had already been played on twice in this tournament, “was made on the recommendation of the venue curator in conjunction with our host. The ICC independent pitch consultant (Andy Atkinson) was apprised of the change and has no reason to believe the pitch won’t play well”.
Nowhere does it say that the ICC pitch consultant wanted or recommended this change. Because that came from the BCCI meddling from the shadows.
Unlike Australia’s tour to India at the start of the year, the World Cup pitches have not been much of a talking point.
For the most part they’ve been quality wickets which have probably favoured bat over ball a little too much but they haven’t been the raging turners that India trot out for bilateral series when they hold a decided spin advantage.
The Indore surface for what turned out to be a three-day Test during India’s retention of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy was rightly categorised as poor by the ICC match referee.
A poor rating by itself barely means much anyway and it holds even less water when the BCCI then throws a tantrum and the rating gets upgraded to below average.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma inspects the pitch at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Seam has been more effective than spin at this World Cup with eight of the top 11 wicket-takers being pace bowlers.
Without delving too deeply into the history of British imperialism and its complicated roots in the subcontinent, India have been well within their rights to flex their muscles over the past couple of decades after not only stepping out of England’s shadow as the epicentre of world cricket but towering over everyone else.
The meek have inherited the cricket earth. But the oppressed have become the schoolyard bully.
And the continued rise of the IPL means that financial and boardroom clout is only going to magnify in the coming years and decades.
For many of the head honchos at the BCCI, the game of cricket seems merely the means to an end of wielding more power.
Virat Kohli celebrates after scoring his century, overtaking Sachin Tendulkar. (Photo by Alex Davidson-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
They need to heed the words of Sir Donald Bradman, who even though he was feted like a god for his record-breaking deeds on the field, displayed a humility which is sadly lacking from the game’s administrators nearly a century after he made his Test debut.
“We are all custodians of the game of cricket. It is the responsibility of all those that play the game to leave the game in a better state than when they first became involved.”
India are kidding themselves if they think that tactics like switching pitches to suit their team is just a case of exploiting their “home-ground advantage”.
No one will be surprised if they try a similar tactic in Sunday’s final at Ahmedabad against Australia but nobody will think it is fair either.
Curmudgeon1961
Roar Rookie
Only the little Don didn't do that as an adminstrator did he?
chaukspp
Roar Rookie
My earlier comment of yesterday on this article has been withheld and not published. That does not hide the truth that this whole business of writing something silly and stupid just to be in the news, stinks.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Ponting as captain had plenty to say about pitches. Just because they were outstanding players, didn't mean they kept quiet when asked to play on doctored wickets, regardless which country they were playing in - including Australia.
Mickey Bobby
Roar Rookie
This is my favourite gardening Australia article ever. Of course the Indians will take the home ground advantage, I doubt any host team nation hasn't done so in the past. If the pitches ain't broke...I remember about a decade ago the WACA
Stuckbetweenindopak
Roar Rookie
Bravo Paul suttor! Kudos and lots of thanks for standing up & not shying away from expressing yourself, in this case millions others who share the same sentiments & question marks but don't have enough guts to express it. My admiration and the respect for Aussies, people, fans and players has just gone to another level
VSSRAO
Roar Rookie
When Hayden, Gilchrist and Ponting played they didn't bother the opposition,pitch etc because that's true world class invincible team !
Derek Murray
Roar Rookie
That England and India are the worst pitch doctorers in the game is well known. That England did it in 2019, doesn’t make it right for India to repeat the dose in 2023. I view it as cheating in bilateral series and even worse in a tournament run by a global governing authority and meant to find the world’s best team
Ed Flanders
Roar Rookie
You start a sentence with "Don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist but" and then nakedly engage in a conspiracy (and a ridiculous one at that), then there cannot be any other conclusion regarding your intelligence. Conspiracy theories are what the unintelligent engage in. Given the role of BCCI in meddling in cricket affairs and their influence over ICC, it is actually reasonable to have some level of skepticism. No, it's entirely unreasonable for the reasons I cited previously. Pat Cummins won 5 in a row and you haven't questioned that. TV stations in Australia (or anywhere) don't zoom into the coin toss. Dismissing legitimate queries doesn’t foster a healthy cricketing community. I quite agree. However your query was entirely illegitimate (again, because of the reasons I cited above) so it worthy of indignant dismissal. It was an unintelligent post, and you've double downed with an equally unintelligent post. Conspiracy theories are for the feeble. Bring some fact, or evidence, and perhaps I might change the tone.
whymuds
Roar Rookie
Rowdy, I have a few mates that also claim Aus has the best / fairest pitches in the world and that Ind doctor pitches for extreme advantage. So I did a really simple analysis over 5, 10 and 20 years on the averages and S/R of spin and pace and ratio of the number of wickets of spin and pace in all countries. And this is what I found. Firstly, all 3 indicators correlated closely. England had the smallest differential between spin and pace average and S/R and ratio (favoured towards pace). So statistically, they have the fairest pitches. The largest gap across all 3 indicators was Saf (favoured towards pace), then, drum roll please... Aus (favoured towards pace), and then Ind (favoured towards spin). Surprisingly, Lanka was pretty close (from memory). I'd be happy to provide the numbers. It really does put in perspective how weak and hypocritical the pitch doctoring claim is by Aus fans. Pitches curated for home advantage in Aus are ingrained in processes, culture and psyche.
Naz
Roar Rookie
A bit presumptive of you assuming someone's level of intelligence based on a single comment. Without delving much into what I do, I can tell you that I have done 7 years of university studies. While I respect differing opinions, your dismissive tone doesn't contribute to a constructive conversation. People have the right to question aspects of the game. I can certainly remember one or two instances (probably even more) where I've seen the cameras zoom into coins here in Australia. Obviously I don't recall exactly when for me to be able to provide you with an example. That is just a ridiculous expectation. Given the role of BCCI in meddling in cricket affairs and their influence over ICC, it is actually reasonable to have some level of skepticism. It's not about intelligence; it's about having an open dialogue. Dismissing legitimate queries doesn't foster a healthy cricketing community. Let's aim for more insightful discussions rather than resorting to personal jabs. It is rather interesting based on your other comments that your go-to is to frequently question everybody's intelligence. Perhaps that says more about you than anyone else.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
On the issue of the 5 days issue you go all strawman on me. You make up something l didn’t say then criticise. That’s not an entirely logical thing to do. I mentioned nowhere that is was a law that it should go 5 days. Implicit in my statement was that it was for bums on seats. Yes Revenue. Seek clarification. —— The second point was that our pitches are the fairest. You didn’t address the objective of the statement. You addressed the qualifier of the statement. Huh? If you were to get a straw poll of all cricketers on the circuit you’d find Australia is at the top of the tree for pitches that play the truest.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
NY is "an event" date, but beyond that, doesn't really offer Sydney/SCG much else. Would make much more sense for the SCG to hold an earlier Test. It's not like the SCG needs a major holiday period to sell out the ground's capacity. Would just make more sense from a cricket perspective for the "tradition" of the "New Years Test" at the SCG to be done away with. Additional upside is Sydney would get more Tests when the series result is still also "live".
Ed Flanders
Roar Rookie
Ours are roads that play true for all batsmen. They are bouncy roads that inherently favour the teams that can handle bounce. And our tests usually go the distance. This comment drives me nuts everytime I hear it. There is no law that demands cricket is played to the 3rd session of day 5. CA want tests to go the distance for revenue, not for competition. You and I can probably rattle off 10 tests in the past decade that should have finished in day 4 if not for the needless 3rd innings runs by Australia...no doubt being nudged along by a CA desperate to get even meagre 5th day ratings. Whether I am biased or not our pitches are probably the fairest in the world. Hopelessly biased. You are who are though, so no judgment. The drop in pitches, while offering zero turn or seam movement, are still bouncier than anything else produced all over the world. It's deliberate. Australian are accustomed to playing on bouncy decks. Indians on spin. Why wouldn't you seek to enhance that? Shane Warne's best record in Australia was at the Gabba! He bowled to the bounce better than any visiting spinner.
Ed Flanders
Roar Rookie
And you called me Karen? Do you even understand what that term means?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Ours are roads that play true for all batsmen. Most of the time. We used to have character in our pitches but now it’s all rather bland. CA wants Tests lasting into the 5th and l understand that. And our tests usually go the distance. Hayden’s been gone a while now but l get what you mean notwithstanding things have changed even more since his absence. —— There is also the placation of the AFL as their ovals have drop in pitches which are all pretty homogeneous which gives visiting teams to this country a good chance to acclimatise to whatever ground. Other countries don’t have this issue. Whether I am biased or not our pitches are probably the fairest in the world. —— The WACA, lamentably, is not the pitch it used to be. And Perth Stadium is just a copy of the MCG which is another factor in visiting teams feeling at home as they get two ovals the same. Adelaide and Sydney don’t spin anywhere nears as much. Melbourne is a more consistent track and Brisbane tones down after the first day excusing any rainfall.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
Another crazy one is the Royal Shows of Adelaide and Sydney should be swapped around. Both cities hold their's in each other dry(er) times.
Ed Flanders
Roar Rookie
All countries curate pitches, Rowdy. You think those trampolines that we prepare in Australia are just coincidental? Our fast bowlers are FAR better prepared to bowl on those pitches and get their lengths right from ball one. Visiting bowlers almost always get their lines wrong. Same with the batters. Most visiting batsman can’t adjust to the bounce, but home batsmen like Hayden can play front foot pull shots because they are used to the bounce and were safe in the knowledge that our curators were never going to soften the pitch. We produce bouncy pitches. England produce green seamers. India and Sri Lanka produce dust bowls.
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
Are you suggesting that the size of the town one hails from determines their intelligence?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
I post answer about that. I did read up on it and you are right.
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
That's what I've found out. At the time l read that they refused. Thanks for the clarification. I've just finished reading it. Still n all India have had trouble accepting offers of touring conditions from other countries but have no trouble preparing pitches suited to them. That is a juxtaposition which really is not an honourable one by India. And what l didn't really highlight first up.