Former India captain turned commentator Sunil Gavaskar opined on the controversial pitch at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) after the fourth Ashes Test ended inside two days as well. He sarcastically pointed out the preferential treatment given to Australia, stating that the match referee would only drop ‘very’ from ‘very good’ from the pitch ratings as well.

In his column for SportStar on Sunday, Sunil Gavaskar wrote: “Another Test match in Australia has finished in less than two days of cricket. The Australian Cricket Board’s CEO says it is not good business, and most, if not all, cricket fans in the sub-continent (read India) are screaming blue murder about the quality of the pitch given in Melbourne. They were astonished when the first Test match pitch in Perth was given a very good rating by the match referee Ranjan Madugalle.”

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“Since there is a new match referee, Jeff Crowe, for the Melbourne and Sydney Test matches, the rating could be different. Since 36 wickets fell in the Melbourne Test instead of 32 in Perth, Crowe might drop the word ‘very’ from the ‘very good’ that Madugalle gave for the Perth pitch and rate the MCG pitch as good. Surprises never cease, of course, so we may get another rating. The curators, or as we found out about the person in charge at the MCG, the Director of Turf, may make a human error and get it slightly wrong, but they are not as devious as those ‘horrible groundsmen’ in India who do not even prepare a pitch and expect the batters to score runs on them. Tut tut,” Gavaskar added.

“I’ve never been involved in a Test match like it, and hopefully am never involved in a Test match like it again. It was a rollercoaster ride for two days to see everything unfold,” he shared.

However, Sunil Gavaskar further commented on the double standards, saying that the match referees are quick to give poor ratings if batters dominate in a Test match instead of the bowlers as well.

“The irony is that if it is a pitch where not too many wickets fall but plenty of runs are scored, then the match referee more often than not gives it a poor rating. So, batters scoring loads of runs is a no-no, but bowlers picking heaps of wickets is okay, and the pitch has to be rated good or very good. Clearly, it is no longer a batters’ game but the bowlers’,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.