Sunil Gavaskar opens up on Bengaluru pitch controversy

On March 20, match referee Javagal Srinath termed the Bengaluru pitch as ‘below average. The decision came after India beat Sri Lanka by 238 runs in three days. Talking about the wickets that fell in the game, 26 out of 39 fell to spin bowling. The first day of the game saw 16 wickets falling, while the second and third days saw 14 and nine wickets respectively.

After the game, Srinath assessed the pitch and reported back to the cricket’s governing body. In the report, the former India pacer wrote that the wicket didn’t offer a fair contest between bat and ball. He, although added that the surface improved with every passing session. Notably, Player of the Match, Shreyas Iyer had said that the surface was bowler-friendly and demanded a different game plan from the batters.

Meanwhile, former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar, in a column, wrote that India didn’t want to take any chances after losing the South Arica series. He added that the team asked the curators to prepare the wicket which suited their strength.

“India cleaned up yet another series win with another three-day finish to move up the points table for the World Test Championship. Their next few Test matches are likely to be away from home and after what happened in South Africa it is understandable that they did not want to take any chances and prepared pitches that suited their strength. What that does do however is that the batsmen, who the crowds come to watch, are also troubled by the opposition bowlers and unable to get the big scores that their millions of followers want to see,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-Day.