ICC should introduce neutral curators for next WTC cycle: Mohinder Amarnath

New Delhi, June 25: Former India all-rounder Mohinder Amarnath wants the ICC to introduce neural curators and ensure a winner is decided in the next World Test Championship cycle. Amarnath said the games finishing in two days like the day-night Test against England in Ahmedabad is not fair competition.

"You should play on quality wickets. When you play on quality wickets, it doesn't matter where you are playing. Then it is a fair competition.

"The ICC should form a panel of neutral curators like they have for neutral umpires. That team should follow the ICC guidelines and ensure the game goes into the fifth day," Amarnath told PTI on Friday.

The WTC mace would have been shared if the final between India and New Zealand ended in a draw or tie. Amarnath feels this is another aspect the ICC must tweak in the next cycle.

"A final means there can't be any joint winners in any sport. Whether it is one game or a best of three final. They have to complete the final." India are currently in need of a fast-bowling all-rounder like Amarnath with Hardik Pandya being left out of the Test team due to his inability to bowl regularly. The 70-year-old said it is the toughest to produce that breed.

"They don't come just like that. They come once in a decade or once in 20 years. I am sure somebody will come but it will come from the longer version of the game," he said.

Meanwhile, former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar is "amazed" after knowing that Virat Kohli and his men will be on a "three-week holiday" before the start of the England Test series after "poor preparation" cost them the World Test Championship final against New Zealand.

Vengsarkar, also a former chief selector, feels India played well over the two-year WTC cycle but their preparation for the final was far from ideal. Quarantine restrictions allowed India to play only one intra-squad game before the marquee clash against a well prepared New Zealand.

The players have a three-week break before they reassemble in the UK on July 14 for the five Tests against England beginning in Nottingham from August 4.

The scheduling has left Vengsarkar amazed. It must be mentioned that the six-week break between the WTC final and the first England Test is due to travel restrictions and COVID-19 protocols for any Indian traveller going to the UK.