Legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar opined on the blatant hypocrisy in pitch assessment in India compared to overseas wickets as well. The Newlands in Cape Town, recently hosted the shortest Test match in history as India beat South Africa by seven wickets to level the series.

“These kind of excuses that the curator got it wrong is typical of the SENA countries. When our curators make a dry pitch then it’s ‘chicanery’, as a former Australian skipper said last year after the Aussies had been walloped in the first two Test matches,” Gavaskar wrote in his column for Mid-day.

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“So our groundsmen do it deliberately, but their groundsmen just get it wrong. It’s like before the third country umpires came in, where decisions by their umpires were excused as ‘human error’ while our umpires were cheats and ‘Delhi Butchers’ and all such derogatory headlines,” Gavaskar further added.

However, Team India will play a total of 10 Tests on home soil in 2024 as part of the World Test Championship (WTC) cycle, and the pitches will once again be assessed and make headlines. And, Team India’s first home series of the current WTC cycle will be against England. The two sides will take on each other in a five-match Test series, beginning from January 25 in Hyderabad.

“In about three weeks time another Test series starts with a country that has the biggest whingeing and moaning media in sport. Anything that doesn’t suit their team will be criticised and allegations will fly thick and fast,” Sunil Gavaskar concluded.