India defeated India by seven wickets in the second Test match in Cape Town on Thursday. This Test match ended in just one and a half days and was also the shortest Test match in the history of Test cricket in terms of number of balls. The second Test match between India and South Africa was completed in just 642 balls. After that match, Indian captain Rohit Sharma took aim at the ICC umpire over the pitch.
India defeated South Africa by seven wickets in just 106.2 overs. After the match, the Indian captain said that he had no problem playing on such pitches but in India, when the ball turns on the first day, people shouldn't complain.
Responding to a question in the post-match press conference, Rohit Sharma said, “We all saw what happened in this Test and how the pitch turned out. To be honest, I don’t mind playing on such pitches. “But as long as everyone keeps their mouths shut when they come to India.”
Rohit further said, “When you come here (South Africa) to play Test cricket, you talk about Test cricket as the highest prize and pinnacle and then you should stick with it. You should face it. In India on the first day the pitch starts spinning and they shout “dust, dust, dust”. There were cracks on the pitch here too.”
Former England opener Chris Broad was the ICC match referee for the two Test series and Rohit feels that the umpire represented on the ICC panel should be neutral. Rohit became aggressive and said that it is important to remain neutral, especially the umpire. Some match referees need to keep an eye on how they score pitches.
Rohit and his team also did not like ICC referee Andy Pycroft's 'average' rating of the pitch for the 2023 World Cup final in Ahmedabad. He said: “I still can't believe the pitch was rated 'below average' in the World Cup final. How can it be a bad pitch? The ICC and umpires need to start looking into this. Pitches “Rate the ICC.” based on their perspective, not based on the (host) countries. I’m in favor of these types of pitches (like Newlands).”
The distrust towards a select few match officials was evident when Rohit sarcastically said he would like to know what criteria match referees use to evaluate pitches. He said: “I would like to see how the pitches are rated. I would like to see it now. I would like to see the table to see how they rate the pitches. Obviously Mumbai, Bengaluru, Cape Town, Centurion, all different.” . The pitches are deteriorating faster, the conditions are different.”
Responding to the critics, Rohit said that the pitch is absolutely spin-friendly and said, “If the ball starts spinning from the first ball, that's fine, but if the ball starts spinning.” They don't like it when the ball starts spinning. to turn. If you want the ball to just get close and not spin, then that's wrong.