'Who gave them the idea that such a pitch should be used?': Inzamam says batsmen went 'invisible' in WTC final
Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq appeared perplexed with the kind of pitch used for the WTC final and expressed surprise over it.
Despite two days getting washed out, the World Test Championship final managed to squeeze out enough time to deliver a result as New Zealand beat India by eight wickets to lift the inaugural WTC crown. With persistent rain washing away two entire days – Day 1 and Day 4 – the general consensus was that the outcome would be a draw. But India's fragile batting led them down as they could not bat out three sessions on the final day.
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As a matter of fact, batting was never easy through the WTC final. With overcast conditions prevailing at the Ageas Bowl five out of six days, the situation was tailor-made for the bowlers and not so much for batsmen. India were bowled out for 217 and 170, while New Zealand managed 249 in the first innings, and weighing in on the same, former Pakistan captain Inzamam-Ul-Haq pointed fingers at the pitch that was used for the summit clash. In fact, he appeared perplexed with the pitch and expressed surprise over it.
"This Test match was six days long, and out of that almost four days saw consistent rain and still it got over within 2.5 days. No one mentioned this that who gave the idea that such a pitch should be used for the World Test Championship final, where only the bowlers were visible but the batting side went invisible? First thing is I don't understand is that for such a big game, how can you prepare such a pitch," Inzamam said on his YouTube channel.
One of the many debates the result threw up was the possibility of the WTC final being changed into the best-of-three-matches going forward. And while Inzamam's thoughts weren't exactly on similar lines, he did outline a couple of alterations which could be followed to make the final more 'fair'.
"My advice is that you make it two Tests, devise a points system, play one game in New Zealand – or whoever is the finalist – and the other in India. The result would have come out fairer in that case. If it were like the World Cup, where every match is played in the same country including the final, then it was different. So, it is just my opinion that in the future WTCs, the finals should be on a home and away basis, hosted by both the finalists," he said.
