The International Cricket Council (ICC) has released the rankings of pitches in India after the Test series against Bangladesh National Cricket Team and New Zealand National Cricket Team. The Rohit Sharma-led side played 5 games in the longest format of the game at five different venues during the home season.
The home Test season for the Indian National Cricket Team began with the first Test against the Bangladesh National Cricket Team. The first match of the series was played at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and the International Cricket Council rated the pitch as “Very Good”.
The Green Park outfield in Kanpur has been rated “Unsatisfactory” by the ICC
The second match of the series between the teams took place at Green Park in Kanpur. The game was played for only two and a half days due to rain and a wet field. However, the ICC penalized the Indian team for what it deemed the Green Park outfield to be “unsatisfactory”. However, the pitch was rated as satisfactory.
The Indian National Cricket Team then locked horns with the New Zealand National Cricket Team in a three-match Test series. The first match was played at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, followed by the last two matches played at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune and the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai respectively.
ICC rates all options for New Zealand Test series as ‘satisfactory’
While the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru offered help to the pacers, the pitches in Pune and Mumbai were a feast for the spinners. The ball spun sharply and both teams’ batting struggled to keep up, losing wickets regularly.
However, all three surfaces were given a “satisfactory” rating by the International Cricket Council.
Pitches and pitches for all international games are rated on a scale from very good to unsuitable: very good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory and unsuitable. An unsatisfactory rating gives venues one failure and three inappropriate ratings. If any venue receives five or more demerit points in a five-year period, it is banned from hosting any international cricket for 12 months.
India did not have the season they wanted
Indian National Cricket did not have the season they wanted. Led by Rohit Sharma, they started the Test season on a high as they beat the Bangladesh National Cricket Team in both games and with the kind of cricket they played, it looked like the same would happen against New Zealand.
However, it was quite a different outing for the Indian National Cricket Team. New Zealand National Cricket Team dominated as they faced whitewash at home. It was the first time they had lost all three games in a series at home.
Not only that, they also scored crucial points in the World Test Championship. Before the New Zealand series, they were at the top, but after that they dropped to second place. Now they need to win four games with one draw in Australia to qualify. They cannot afford to lose even one game.