Pitch issue haunts India at ICC meeting

LONDON: The high-powered ICC Cricket Committee on Friday expressed concerns about the “quality of Test pitches”, especially the tendency of home teams to prepare

LONDON: The high-powered ICC Cricket Committee on Friday expressed concerns about the “quality of Test pitches”, especially the tendency of home teams to prepare tailor-made strips that suit them.

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“The committee also discussed a number of other issues relating to Test cricket, believing a coordinated approach to the marketing of Test cricket was needed, and also expressing concern about the quality of Test pitches, and in particular the common practice of home countries overtly preparing surfaces to suit their own teams,” an ICC release stated.

Interestingly, it was current ICC chairman Shashank Manohar’s home ground in Nagpur that received a lot of flak and got an official warning from the ICC’s Pitches and Grounds Committee after a Test match between India and South Africa finished in two and a half days.

Also Ravi Shastri, who is a Media Representative in this cricket committee, was India’s ‘Team Director’ during the series.

Both Manohar and Shastri, however, were not present at the meeting as per the release sent by ICC.

Another key member of the committee and former India captain and current India A coach Rahul Dravid had also expressed his concerns last year about quality of pitches prepared in Ranji Trophy to get outright results.

“The committee received a presentation on ICC’s plans to bring greater structure and context to international cricket by creating dedicated competitions in each of the game’s three formats, and there was unanimous agreement from committee members that the current structure of international cricket needed to change.”