‘In India, it’s different’ – Former Australian skipper’s bold statement on Ahmedabad curators ahead of Ahmedabad Test

Former Australian skipper Mark Waugh lashed out o Ahmedabad curators as they change the structure of the pitch at the last moment before the start of the fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which is currently in the hands of India as they hold the four-match Test series 2-1. For the last Test, two pitches had been prepared, however, compared to the pitch used for the Indore Test, there was considerably more grass on the wickets.

But, the curators didn’t make the decision until it was already far too late, which Australian captain Steve Smith had never experienced before. Waugh demanded that measures should be taken since he couldn’t understand why the decision had been delayed so long.

“This is not on. I don’t know how you don’t know what pitch you’re playing on. In Australia, I think the groundsman and curators are told months in advance, so they set up the pitch for the camera, the sight screen, and the spectators. But in India, it’s different,” Waugh was quoted as saying on Fox Cricket’s coverage.

I would like the next wicket to be a green wicket: Brad Haddin

“It’s a bit like county cricket. You used to turn up to county grounds and there would be three pitches prepared depending on who turned up for the opposition side, then they would decide. I don’t know what’s going on here but I think something needs to be done about this,” he added.

Former Australian batter, Brad Haddin stated that the authorities would need to “take a careful look at it” in the future. Haddin, however, also observed that Australia’s third Test triumph, which some people thought came as a surprise, pushed a “panicked” as India will look to reevaluate what surface to play on for the fourth match.

“If you go back to the last Test match, just before the Test, Rohit Sharma said, ‘I would like the next wicket to be a green wicket, get us ready for the Test championship’. But Australia didn’t read that script, they won the Test match. I just think they prepared that wicket thinking Australia were going to lose that Test match, then all of a sudden panicked, and now they had to go back to a traditional Indian wicket,” asserted Haddin.