The International Cricket Council (ICC) rated a couple of pitches on which the Indian team played in the ongoing World Cup 'average'. In Ahmedabad where Pakistan were bowled out for 191 and in Chennai were India shot Australia out for 199 - both surfaces aided the slower bowlers and the Men in Blue were able to get assistance on both of them while the batters chased them down comfortably in the end. However, Team India head coach Rahul Dravid disagreed with the ICC saying that only the pitches producing high-scoring matches should be rated good.
During the pre-match press conference ahead of India's World Cup 2023 match against New Zealand, Dravid batted for the display of skills to take centre stage rather than just the batting pitches where teams run away with the game scoring in excess of 350-plus.
"If you want to only see 350-run matches and rate only those pitches as good, then I respectfully disagree with that. You have to see different skills on display as well. If you wanted to only see fours and sixes being hit, then we have T20 for that. Why do we need anything else?" Dravid asked.
"There are skills on display on 350 wickets also. That's fine on that particular day. But in the first few games when it spins a little bit or something happens that brings the bowlers into the game, and you start rating pitches as average, where does it leave the bowlers? Why are they coming then? Play two T20 matches then.
"We need to have a better way of deciding what is good or average," the Indian head coach further added. Dravid was of the view that the quality of bowlers like Ravindra Jadeja, Mitchell Santner or Kuldeep Yadav on display are also skills and the likes of Kane Williamson negotiating them or how Virat Kohli and KL Rahul batted in Chennai against Australia too are skills and not just going after bowling where it comes nicely onto the bat.
Dravid said that there will be different types of surfaces and whether it is a belter, or one where the ball turns or the one where it seems, all are competent in their own way and require different skills.
"I just want to see some variety," Dravid said. "There will be some good wickets and games that are high-scoring. And there will be other games where the ball turns, and others where it seams a little bit. You've got a long tournament, and you're playing in India in different parts of the country. There will be different wickets and different challenges. Teams that are able to cope with all those challenges are the ones that will end up being successful," he added.
Dravid remembered India's game against South Africa in the last T20 World Cup in Perth where 133 played 137 and the target was chased in the final over or the final between Pakistan and England at the MCG where 138 was chased with just one over left while making a remark that he doesn't remember how those pitches were rated but they accepted the challenge and that's how it should be.
