Sunil Gavaskar Takes Brutal Dig At Ashes Pitch With "Horrible Groundsmen In India" Remark
The Australia vs England Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) ended in just two days. A total of 36 wickets fell across six sessions in the game.
The Australia vs England Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) ended in just two days. A total of 36 wickets fell across six sessions in the game that saw the Three Lions end their 18-Test and 15-year winless streak in Australia. The pitch, which had 10 mm of grass left on it, aided the pacers throughout the two days of play. There was enough swing and seam movement for the fast bowlers as batters from both teams haplessly fought for survival.
"Another Test match in Australia has finished in less than two days of cricket. The Australian Cricket Board's CEO says it is not good business and most, if not all, cricket fans in the sub-continent (read India) are screaming blue murder about the quality of the pitch given in Melbourne. They were astonished when the first Test match pitch in Perth was given a very good rating by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle," India great Sunil Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar.
The Perth Test between Australia and England also ended in two days, but the pitch was graded "very good" by ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle.
Taking a sarcastic jibe, Gavaskar said, "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."
"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 tut," he added.
Australia Cricket Team
England Cricket Team
India Cricket Team
Sunil Gavaskar