Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) President Abhilash Khandekar on Friday said that the Holkar Stadium pitch used for the third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has given the result and that the pitch was made as per the instructions of the curators of the Board of Cricket in India (BCCI). His comments came after the Indore pitch was given a rating of "poor" by the ICC.
Following the report submitted by ICC Match Referee Chris Broad after consultation with both Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith, the Holkar Stadium received three demerit points. According to the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, "a venue will be suspended from hosting any international cricket for a period of 12 months if it accumulates five or more demerit points over a five-year rolling period."
In the third Test, India suffered an embarrassing loss by nine wickets on the pitch that was helpful to spinners but proved to be lethal for the batters.
"I have come to know that this pitch has been declared poor by the ICC. However, I haven't seen the details of the ICC rating on the pitch. But I have to say that this pitch has given the result of the Test match,” Khandekar told PTI.
Khandekar said that the pitch at the Holkar Stadium was prepared as per the guidelines of the pitch curators of the BCCI, who visited the Holkar Stadium about eight days before the match and inspected the ground.
According to sources, two BCCI curators - Ashish Bhowmik and Tapas Chatterjee had inspected the stadium ahead of the India-Australia Test. The Holkar Stadium has both black and red clay pitches, but it was decided to use the black clay pitch for the India-Australia Test.
According to experts, usually, the cricket ball takes less spin and bounces on the black soil pitch than the red soil pitch, but the speed of the ball also depends on the condition of the grass on the pitch. In most of the matches held at MPCA's Holkar Stadium in the last 17 years, its pitch has proved to be very helpful for the batsmen in most of matches, hence this ground has been called "Batsmen's Paradise".
The hosts were bowled out for 163 in their second innings, leaving Australia with a target of just 76 runs. Both teams will face each other again in the fourth Test starting on March 9 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.
(Inputs from PTI)
