Sunil Gavaskar does not mince words and talks straight from the heart, and the little Master yet again shut the critics who accused BCCI, & Rahul Dravid of the pitch change. Before the start of the India vs New Zealand semi-final at the Wankhede Satdium, a report claimed that India forced MCA to switch the SF match to pitch number 6 to aid their spin twins Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav. However, as it turned out the pitch did not aid spinners, and it was a batting paradise.
India posted 397 batting first with centuries from Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer. After the match, Sunil Gavaskar lambasted those critics by saying, “All those morons who have been saying about pitch change, I hope they just shut up, stop taking potshots at India. Stop talking about pitch change. It was for both teams,” Sunil Gavaskar told the host broadcasters after the match.
Not only that, the Daily Mail report also claimed that if India make the final of the World Cup, then the Ahmedabad pitch will also be expected to be slow.
The pitch No. 6, which has previously held two group stage matches, hosted the semi-final match at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium. The match was originally scheduled to take place on a brand-new surface (pitch No. 7).
Stop Talking nonsense: Sunil Gavaskar
“Stop talking nonsense about pitches, some of them have already started about the Ahmedabad pitch, especially since the 2nd semi-final has not been completed yet,” Sunil Gavaskar added.
Unlike the reports, pitch number seven was not used for IND vs NZ at the Wankhede. It was pitch number 6 that was used – the same pitch which had been used for England-South Africa, & India-Sri Lanka games.
Later, ICC clarified the pitch switch controversy by saying, “Pitch changes are common in a tournament as long as the World Cup, and that the ICC’s independent pitch consultant was apprised of the change and has no reason to believe the pitch won’t play well.”
Speaking about the match, India beat New Zealand by 70 runs and qualified for their third finals of the World Cup. They will either face South Africa or Australia in the finals on Sunday (November 19).
