India defeated South Africa by 7 wickets to win the 2nd Test at Cape Town within two days. The fastest ever Test result was achieved there. After winning the shortest Test in the history of the game, Rohit Sharma has called out the ICC and the match referees for what he sees as double standards at rating pitches.
Rohit Said, “We all saw what happened in this Test match and how the pitch played. I honestly don’t mind playing on pitches like these as long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don’t talk about Indian pitches.”
“You come here to challenge yourself. Yes, it is dangerous but it is challenging. When people come to India, it is challenging as well. When you’re here to play Test cricket, we talk about Test cricket being the ultimate prize, Test cricket being the pinnacle and all. We also stand by it. When you’re put up against a challenge like that, you come and face it. That’s what happens in India, but when the pitch starts turning on Day 1 in India, people start talking ‘puff of dust, puff of dust, there are so many cracks on the pitch’. It’s important that we stay neutral wherever we go.”
“Honestly, I would like to see how the pitches are rated. Mumbai, Bangalore, Cape Town, Centurion are all quite different. The overhead conditions are different. The pitches deteriorate fast when the sun is beating down that hard on the pitch. The conditions in India also – we know the pitch will spin. But people don’t like it because the pitch spins from Day 1,” Rohit continued.
“If the ball seams from ball 1, it’s fine for everyone. That’s not fair. If the ball starts spinning from ball 1, it should be okay. Otherwise, you stay neutral and start rating these pitches also as bad. If you want the ball only to seam and not to turn, in my opinion that’s absolutely wrong. That’s my judgement, my opinion and I’ll stick by it. I’ve seen enough cricket and enough of how these match referees and ICC looks into these ratings. I don’t have an issue on how you rate, but stay neutral.”
Rohit also said, “Some of these match referees need to keep their eye on how they rate pitches. I still can’t believe the World Cup final pitch was rated ‘below average’. A batsman got a hundred there. How can that be a poor pitch? The ICC, the match referees need to start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on countries. That’s very important. I hope they keep their ears open, they keep their eyes open and look into those aspects of the game.”
“I’m all for pitches like these, we want to challenge ourselves playing on pitches like these, we pride ourselves playing on pitches like these. But all I want to say is, be neutral.”