"Be Neutral": Rohit Sharma Slams ICC Match Referees, Indicates Bias Against India

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma was in an attacking mood after the second Test against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town. With the Test ending in less than five sessions, making it the shortest match in the format ever (in terms of number of balls bowled), there have been question marks on the quality of the pitch. On the first day of the match 23 wickets fell. Both India and South Africa batters found the going tough. They gave better account of themselves in the second innings, yet a two-day Test match was beyond explanation.

While Rohit Sharma did not criticise the Newlands pitch directly, he was upfront in slamming the attack that Indian pitches come under, particularly for its spinning nature.    

"When you're here to play Test cricket, you talk about Test cricket the ultimate prize and pinnacle, and then you should stand by it," Rohit Sharma said.

"When you are put up like a challenge like that, you should come and face it. In India, day one the pitch starts turning, they keep talking about 'puff of dust, puff of dust. So much crack here on the pitch'."

Former England opener Chris Broad was the ICC match referee for the two-Test series and Rohit believes that global body's empanelled referees should be "neutral".

This is Real Aggression

Proper belting

OH CAPTAIN MY CAPTAIN #RohitSharma pic.twitter.com/7T53SfVWcx

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"It's important we stay neutral everywhere we go, especially the match referees. Some of these match referees are, they need to keep their eyes on how they rate pitches," the skipper quite aggressively.

ICC match referee Andy Pycroft's "average" rating for pitch used for the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad also did not go down well with Rohit Sharma.

"I still can't believe the World Cup final pitch was rated 'below average' (average actually). A batter got a hundred there. How can that be a poor pitch?" he asked. "So, The ICC and the match referees need to looking into it. Start Rating pitches based on what they see and not based on countries (hosting). I hope they keep their eyes and ears open and look into those aspects. I am all for pitches like this (like the one at Newlands).

"We pride ourselves playing on pitches like these, all I want to say is be neutral." 

The amount of mistrust for some of the select match officials was evident when Rohit sarcastically said that he would love to know about the parameters match referees use to rate pitches.

"I would like to see the how the pitch has been rated. I want to see it now. I want to see the chart, how they rate pitches. Clearly, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Cape Town, Centurion, all are different. Pitches deteriorate fast, overhead conditions are different," he said.

"If the ball seams from ball one, that's okay, but if the ball starts turning…. If the ball starts turning, they don't like it. If you want the ball only to seam and not turn, it's wrong.

“I have seen enough of cricket now. I have seen enough of how these match referees looks into these ratings, I have no issues with how they want to note, they have to be neutral.”

With PTI inputs

Topics mentioned in this article

India Cricket Team South Africa Cricket Team Rohit Sharma South Africa vs India International Cricket Council World Cup 2023 Cricket