The International Cricket Council (ICC) said today that the ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process has evaluated the pitch at Newlands in Cape Town, the site of the second Test of the ICC World Test Championship series between South Africa and India, as “unsatisfactory.”
Chris Broad, the ICC Match Referee, filed his report, voicing the match officials’ concerns and following discussions with captains Dean Elgar and Rohit Sharma, who both thought the pitch was subpar. The location has been given one demerit point as a result of the assessment.
Cricket South Africa has been sent the report and has fourteen days to file an appeal against the sentence.
“It was very hard to bat on the pitch at Newlands,” Mr. Broad stated. Throughout the game, the ball bounced swiftly and occasionally frighteningly, making it challenging to make shots. A number of batters were struck on the gloves, and the unusual bounce also caused many wickets to fall.
After the play concluded in just two days and 642 deliveries (legal balls throughout the entire match), the Newlands pitch for the second Test between South Africa and India drew an excessive amount of criticism.
After the match in Cape Town ended in an odd way, a number of experts came up to express their dissatisfaction with the pitch. First off, six Indian players returned without bothering the scorers during their opening innings, while the hosts were humiliated by an innings total of 55 runs.
India didn’t have much of a challenge to change the tide in the second innings because the home team was unable to reach 200. The visitors won the match by seven wickets after chasing 79 runs, leveling the series at one. After causing chaos in the first innings of the Test, Mohammed Siraj was named player of the match.
India
