The poor rating given to the Indore pitch used in the 3rd Test match between India and Australia has been changed after an appeal from the BCCI. The pitch of the Holkar Stadium in Indore was also handed three demerit points after the match ended in just over two days. However, the footage from the Test match was reviewed by the ICC appeal after which the rating was changed from poor to below average. Also, the pitch has will receive only one demerit point and not three.
“The footage from the Test was reviewed by an ICC appeal panel consisting of Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager – Cricket, and Roger Harper, ICC Men’s Cricket Committee Member. Both were of the opinion that, while the guidelines had been followed by the Match Referee in accordance with Appendix A of the Pitch Monitoring Process, there was not enough excessive variable bounce to warrant the ‘poor’ rating,” ICC said.
India vs Australia 3rd Test got over in two days and one session as the pitch favoured the spinners. As many as 14 wickets fell on the first day of the match and out of the total of 31 wickets, 26 were taken by the spinners. Australia won the match when they chased down the meagre target of 76 with 9 wickets in hand. The Aussie team had then qualified for the World Test Championship final and made a comeback in the series after losing the first two matches.
Notably, after the match, ICC rated the pitch as poor as the match referee stated that it did favour the spinners from start and had excessive and uneven bounce. Speaking on the pitch, ICC Match Referee Chris Broad had then said: “The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start. The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match.”
