Sunil Gavaskar slams ICC’s ‘double standards’ over MCG pitch rating

Gavaskar slams ICC’s ‘double standards’ over MCG pitch, says it will still be rated ‘good’. (Photo: X)

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come under fire from legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar for what he called "double standards" in the pitch rating system. Despite the Test match completing in less than two days, Gavaskar stated that the pitch used for the recently finished fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) is probably going to be regarded as "good."

Twenty wickets fell on the first day of the MCG Test, the most in Australia since 22 wickets fell at the Adelaide Oval in 1951. The entire Test match was finished in 142 overs, with an additional 16 wickets falling on Day 2.

After the game, Gavaskar observed that even though the first Ashes Test in Perth ended in two days, the pitch was deemed "very good." He took a jab at the ICC, saying that the pitch might be deemed "good" rather than "very good" because Jeff Crowe, the new match referee for the Melbourne Test, replaced Ranjan Madugalle.

“Since there is a new match referee, Jeff Crowe, for the Melbourne and Sydney Test matches, the rating could be different. Since 36 wickets fell in the Melbourne Test instead of 32 in Perth, Crowe might drop the word ‘very’ from the ‘very good’ that Madugalle gave for the Perth pitch and rate the MCG pitch as good. Surprises never cease, of course, so we may get another rating,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.

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Additionally, he made a sarcastic comment on Indian pitch curators, pointing out that ICC match referees frequently describe them as terrible groundsmen and give them low pitch ratings.

“The curators, or as we found out about the person in charge at the MCG, the Director of Turf, may make a human error and get it slightly wrong, but they are not as devious as those ‘horrible groundsmen’ in India who do not even prepare a pitch and expect the batters to score runs on them. Tut,” Gavaskar added.

With only 852 deliveries, the Melbourne Test became the third-shortest Test ever played in Australia in terms of balls bowled. Only the 1932 match between Australia and South Africa at the same location, which lasted 656 balls, and the first Test of the current series in Perth, which ended after 847 balls, were shorter on Australian soil.

After the game, Steve Smith and Ben Stokes, the captains, both criticized the pitch for being overly favorable to bowlers. Concerns about the disproportionate help provided to seamers were also voiced by former players and analysts.

It remains to be seen what kind of pitch the curator will prepare for the last game of the series, which is set to take place in Sydney on January 4. Notably, in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024–25 series, the fifth Test in Sydney ended in three days.