Nagpur wicket is rated poor by Match Referee

Pitches that have provided a lot of turn to aid India’s traditional strength of spin bowling have been criticized, not least by the world governing body International Cricketing Council’s officiating team, which labeled the pitch in Nagpur as “poor”.

It begs for an answer: Is this the way forward for Test cricket, which is witnessing a universal decline in popularity? As has been visible so far in this Test series, this team is confident and doesn’t buckle under pressure, nor does it like to let the guard down.

Midway into this sermon Kohli had to be reminded the issue here was not articles, but the ICC’s assessment of the pitch in Nagpur. Thus, it comes as no surprise that the surface has officially been rated “poor” by match referee, Jeff Crowe. “I have never seen any articles written on that”.

The South African batsmen have struggled against the Indian spinners in the series so far. “That’s why this is something which I don’t find logical, that everyone is commenting on the pitch”, he said. Unfortunately, we ended up on the wrong side of this game. It’s a mindset or an opinion of someone.

Kumble, chairman of the ICC’s Cricket Committee, said: “I would like to congratulate all the players for their selection in the Test and ODI teams of the year”. We are playing in India and we expect pitches to turn. It’s disheartening to see Indian batsmen on their toes in an overseas series from a fan’s perspective, but when did we complain about their pitches?

South Africa were also bowled out cheaply in the rain-hit second Test in Bangalore, which was drawn. On Tuesday, 122 wickets fell in 12 Ranji Trophy matches during the opening day of the last round of league matches. “I’m talking about everyone”, Kohli said.

Riding on his stupendous performance in the ongoing home series against South Africa, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin today rose to a career-high second in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers even as A B de Villiers lost his top spot in the batsmen standings.

If India’s bowlers have won them the series, the form of the batsmen have been a major cause for concern. The side will take some confidence from the dogged partnership in the last game between Faf du Plessis and skipper Hashim Amla, who has been out of sorts during this tour.

According to sources, there is no instruction or demand from any team about specific type of pitch formation.

The negative report has, the ICC said in a media release, triggered a review of the performance of the pitch under the ICC Pitch Monitoring Process. Birrell was graceful to admit that they were “outplayed” by the home team. India may be tempted to keep the same team going, although they will consider bringing Varun Aaron in for Rohit Sharma after a final look at the pitch on match morning.