IND vs AUS: Rahul Dravid Defends Turning Tracks After ICC’s Poor Rating for Indore
Coach Dravid inspecting the Indore pitch (AP Photo)
The pitch churned out for Indore Test continues to remain a subject of controversy. With the match barely lasting above two days, the International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Chris Broad heavily criticised the surface, which provided little or no assistance to seamers.
As has been the norm this Border-Gavaskar series, about 26 of the 31 fallen wickets at the venue fell to spinners. Australian veteran Nathan Lyon was the biggest standout of them all, claiming 11 victims in the match including an eight-fer in the second Indian innings.
After Broad’s scathing review for the Indore pitch, Indian coach Rahul Dravid has come out in defence of the track by saying that it is up to players to learn to adjust while playing in different conditions.
Dravid unfazed by Indore pitch review
During the pre-match press conference for the Ahmedabad Test, Rahul Dravid defended the surface used for the third Test of the series in Indore. The former cricketer said that the match referee is entitled to form his opinion, but the players are simply looking to play on by keeping World Test Championship points in mind.
“I won't go too much into it. The match referee is entitled to make his opinion, share his thoughts on the pitch. It doesn't matter whether I agree with his reading or not. With WTC points at stake, you are looking to play on wickets that produce results. Sometimes it can be difficult to get that balance perfectly right.”
He added that pitches tend to be challenging for either bowlers or batters all over the world. He cited the example of India’s previous trip to South Africa, where the surfaces provided no assistance for spinners.
“Whatever the wickets are we have to learn to play on them, we have to learn to adjust. We played on certain wickets overseas, in South Africa recently, where the spinners were taken out of the game.”
Both India and Australia will now clash at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium between March 9 and March 13 for the final Test of the four-match series. Notably, the last Test match played at the ground two Indian summers ago concluded within just five sessions.
Despite the venue’s recent track record, Indian captain Rohit Sharma earlier hinted out that the hosts might request for a green top for the match.
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