Rohit Sharma, the India captain, called on critics to lay off Indian pitches and accused the International Cricket Council of double standards after his team won a farcical Test in Cape Town.
The second Test became the shortest ever to produce a result, ending in a seven-wicket win for India an hour after lunch on day two with only 642 balls bowled in the entire match.
Rohit was critical of the ICC’s rating system for pitches and said the criticism India receives for producing surfaces that turn excessively is unfair after the batting lottery at Newlands. The standard of pitches will be a focus when England tour India for a five Test series starting later this month.
“I mean, we saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that,” Rohit said. “I honestly don’t mind playing on pitches like this. As long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don’t talk too much about Indian pitches.
“When you are put up against a challenge like that, you come and face it. That’s what happens in India, but, in India on day one, if the pitch starts turning, people start talking about ‘Puff of dust! Puff of dust!’ There’s so much crack here on the pitch.”
The pitch in Cape Town was poor with variable bounce from either end, although batting techniques were also exposed with too few players willing to leave the ball.
South Africa’s Aiden Markram gave his team a chance with an exhilarating, counterattacking 106 from 103 balls but the next highest score in South Africa’s second innings of just 176 was 12 as only three other batsmen reached double figures.
Jasprit Bumrah finished with six for 61 and not a single ball of spin was bowled in the match. Markram’s hundred was the first instance of a batsman making a century with no other player in the side reaching 20 but his heroics only set India 76 to win. India lost three wickets on their way to victory and another 50 would have been very tricky on a total lottery of a pitch.
Rohit was critical of match referees for rating pitches at the World Cup as average. “The ICC, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that’s quite important,” he said. “So I hope they keep their ears open and look into those aspects of the game.”
India beat South Africa by seven wickets
South Africa first innings: 55 all out in 23.2 overs (Kyle Verreynne 15; Mohammed Siraj 6-15)
India first innings: 153 all out in 34.5 overs (Virat Kohli 46; Lungi Ngidi 3-30)
South Africa second innings: 176 all out in 36.5 overs (Aiden Markram 106; Jasprit Bumrah 6-61)
India second innings: 80-3 in 12 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 28; Marco Jansen 1-15)
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