The ICC has rated the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) pitch to be used for the fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) as 'satisfactory'. The last match of the five-match series between India and Australia was played in Sydney. In which India was defeated by 6 wickets. The remaining four BGT venues, Perth's Optus Stadium, Adelaide Oval, Brisbane's The Gabba and Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) received 'very good' ratings.
Gavaskar criticized Sydney's pitch The Sydney Test was completed on the third day before the tea break, i.e. in just two and a half days. In which 11 wickets fell on the first day, 15 on the second day and 8 on the third day. Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar criticized the Sydney pitch during the commentary and said that if the match ends in 3 days in India, there will be a lot of chaos.
He said after the match, “It's not the ideal pitch of a Test match that you want, because you want the match to go into the fourth and fifth day.” If India had lost 15 wickets (in one day) there would have been a lot of drama.
ICC Rules Regarding Pitch The ICC has divided its pitch rating system into four categories. These include Very Good, Satisfactory, Unsatisfactory and Unfair. The pitch and outfield are monitored during all matches under ICC's 'Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process'. The ICC awards one demerit point to pitches and outfields deemed unsatisfactory by the match referee.
If a venue receives 6 or more demerit points in 5 years, it is banned for 12 months. That means no international match is played at that venue for a year. While getting 12 demerit points you are banned for 24 months.
Image Credit: Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).