New Delhi: BCCI president Shashank Manohar today said that the Cricket Board will abide by the ICC decision of rating Nagpur pitch as "poor" but at the same time termed the inference on the nature of the wicket being a "subjective decision" by ICC match referee Jeff Crowe.
India beat South Africa by 124 runs at Jamtha in Nagpur where the match ended in two and half days with Ravichandran Ashwin getting 12 wickets. Later ICC match referee Jeff Crowe reported against the Nagpur track and finally ICC rated it as "poor" and let Nagpur off with a warning.
"The ICC framed rules with regards to poor wickets. There are four categorries. 'Excellent', 'Good', 'Poor' and 'Dangerous' wickets. In regards to 'Poor' wicket, they have said excessive spin or excessive seam movement, the wicket is considered to be poor," Manohar told fans during a live interaction on BCCI's official Facebook page.
"In case of Nagpur, Match Referee stated "Excessive spin on the third day of the game and uneven bounce". According to me, this is subjective decison taken by Match Referee. The decision may vary whether there is uneven bounce or whether the wicket is spinning more than what its supposed to be.
"It may be that one spinner gets more turn than another. These factors need to be taken into consideration. Finally, ICC has taken a decision, we would abide by that decision," said Manohar, who fielded around 30-odd questions from cricket fans.
The BCCI president also refuted allegations that his home centre Nagpur and secretary Anurag Thakur's centre Dharamsala have got preferential treatment on allotment of matches during upcoming World T20.
"When it was decided that India would host ICC World T20, BCCI offered eight venues but ICC wanted only five because of cost constraints. Our secretary Anurag Thakur during ICC Annual Meeting in Barbados clearly told ICC that BCCI would not agree to less than 8 venues.
"Now on paper, Dharamsala and Nagpur are hosting more matches but it also includes the qualifiers that will be played by Afghanistan, Oman, Hong Kong, Scotland etc. But as far as main draw is concerned, matches have been distributed equally. Because of cost constraints, ICC wanted to hold qualifying matches at two venues. Dharamsala and Nagpur provide the cheapest options in terms of hotel, transportation. Also teams will stay in one venue for 8 days," he said.
"India's matches are being played at Nagpur, Dharamsala, Bangalore and Mohali. Semi-finals at Delhi and Mumbai and the final at Kolkata. If we would have wanted, Dharamsala and Nagpur could have hosted the semi-finals. Nagpur could have hosted the final as it is the best stadium in the country with 45,000 capacity," Manohar said.
