'Hope all those whiners are happy now': Shastri, Waugh, DK on '22-day pitch' as IND vs AUS 4th Test heads towards draw

Several former India and Australia cricketers were left annoyed with Ahmedabad's pitch on which the 4th Test is being played as the series final of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy seems to be heading towards a draw.

Several former India and Australia cricketers were left annoyed with Ahmedabad's pitch on which the 4th Test is being played as the series final of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy seems to be heading towards a draw. Contrary to wickets falling in a cluster in the first three Tests, only 20 fell by the end of Day 4 with just the first two innings completed. With one day left and two entire innings left, India will be pressing for victory but it is unlikely there will be a result.

Mark Waugh and Ravi Shastri remain sceptical about the Ahmedabad pitch. (Getty)

After the Indore pitch was rated 'poor' by the ICC, the curators have gone completely the opposite way with batters having a field day in the series decider. Batting first, Australia piled 480, in reply to which India responded with a commanding first innings total of 571/9 with a lead of 88 runs. The match has produced four centurions – Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green, Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli – as compared to just one – Rohit Sharma – in the first three.

As the fourth and final Test of the BGT 2023 heads towards a stalemate, the likes of Ravi Shastri, Dinesh Karthik and Mark Waugh wondered whether this is what is needed for Test cricket. Australia great Waugh, who has been highly vocal expressing his displeasure with the pitches used in the series, landed a fresh punch on the Ahmedabad wicket, calling it a '22-day pitch'.

"The last three Tests were two-day pitches, but this is a 22-day pitch. It's not good enough, [India] knew they only needed a draw to win the series, and India are batting like they want a draw, very disappointing we won't get a result here," he said while doing commentary for Fox Sports. Waugh was earlier not impressed with India's decision to wait till the last minute to decide which surface to play on.

Shastri and Karthik, part of the commentary panel for host broadcasters Star, debated what is the way forward – three-day finishes with results or five-day endings without one. “We need to talk about these numbers - 91 wickets over seven days and 15 wickets over four days." Former India coach Ravi Shastri shot back: "So what do you want, this kind of a pitch or the other pitches? You don’t want to finish in three days yes, totally agree, but that could also be because of incompetent batting. I hope all those whiners about Indian pitches are happy now."

With Australia already having qualified for the World Test Championship final, India have one step in the door to join them as rain in Christchurch has all but ensured a draw. Weighing in on the Ahmedabad pitch, another former Australia cricketer Brad Haddin felt that India deliberately batted long so that when the Aussies go to bat, they don't have much to play for. "When Australia go into bat, they have nothing to play for. It's dangerous to bat when there's nothing to play for," he said.