Sunil Gavaskar lambasts ICC for rating Indore pitch 'poor', asks how many demerit points were awarded to Gabba

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Legendary India cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has accused the International Cricket Council (ICC) of bias after it rated the Holkar Stadium pitch as poor as the third Test between India and Australia finished within three days.

Asking how many demerit points were awarded to the Gabba pitch when Australia defeated South Africa in a Test within two days, Gavaskar lashed out at the ICC.

Gavaskar attacks ICC

In an interaction with India Today on Friday (March 3), the former India captain said, "One thing I would like to know, there was this Test match in November in Brisbane Gabba, where the match finished in 2 days. How many demerit points did that pitch get and who was the match referee there."

ICC match referee's statement

Rating the Indore pitch as poor, ICC match referee Chris Broad claimed that it was favouring spinners from the start and didn't provide fair competition between the bat and the ball. Australia ended up winning the game by 9 wickets.

"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," Broad said.

Meanwhile, the Brisbane track on which Australia beat South Africa by 6 wickets was given a 'below-average' rating with just one demerit point.

"Overall, the Gabba pitch for this Test match was too much in favour of the bowlers. There was extra bounce and occasional excessive seam movement. The odd delivery also kept low on the second day, making it very difficult for batters to build partnerships," the ICC report read.

Meanwhile, India captain Rohit Sharma downplayed the constant talk around pitches after every match and said that he would rather be interested in talking about Nathan Lyon or the performances of batters like Cheteshwar Pujara and Usman Khawaja in the match.

"This pitch talk is getting too much. Every time we play in India, the focus is only on the pitch. Why are people not asking me about Nathan Lyon and how well he bowled? Or, how well Pujara batted in the second innings? Or, how well Usman Khawaja played? Those are the things I can give you details on, but not on the pitch because it is absolutely not necessary," he said.