Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar slammed the hypocrisy in assessing pitches from India to those outside the subcontinent after the second Australia-Bangladesh Test ended in under two days as well. In a match dominated by the pacers, Australia finished an innings and a 51-run victory at Mackay as well. It was the fourth shortest match in Test history, with only 750 balls bowled across the two innings as well.

Pointing to this, Gavaskar wrote in his column for Sportstar: “Another Test match in Australia has finished within two days. This has happened four times there in the last few years. And we are yet to hear any criticism of the trampoline-bounce pitches that produce such results. The excuses will come thick and fast. ‘Oh, the groundsman, sorry, turf executive, got it wrong’. Or the other cricketing excuse that the batters didn’t have the technique to cope with the bounce and it wasn’t the fault of the pitch.”

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“The pitch in Mackay was no surprise. After the Aussies were humiliated by the Bangladeshis in the first Test, they were going to prepare a pitch that would be fast and bouncy. And, of course, claim that the groundsman had done it on his own and there were zero instructions from the team management. We all know what really happens,” he again added.

However, Sunil Gavaskar also questioned the ICC Match Referees for favouring the older powers, Australia and England as well.

“It’s just that the Indian management is open about wanting pitches to suit its bowling strength while those from the old powers will do the little whispering and nudging and get a surface that they need. There’s generally been a desire among the referees to get brownie points from the media of the old powers, so it won’t be a surprise if there’s no adverse rating for the Mackay pitch. But lo and behold, if a game finishes in three days in India, there will be all kinds of derogatory reports and insinuations made about the pitches, BCCI and Indian cricket. The hypocrisy is so brazen that it is simply mind-boggling,” he concluded.