Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Vaughan respond to the pitch-change dispute at Wankhede. The BCCI reportedly changed the surface that was meant to be use for India’s semi-final match against New Zealand at Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday.
Prior to India’s ODI World Cup semi-final match against New Zealand at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, November 15. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in hot water for allegedly modifying the surface that was meant to be used.
According to the Daily Mail, instead of a ‘fresh pitch’ certified by the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) pitch specialist, Andy Atkinson, the BCCI chose to utilize a used pitch for the big-ticket game.
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Sunil Gavaskar and Michael Vaughan spoke out on pitch-change dispute
“Because the pitch is there for all teams. I don’t think there should be too much debate about what this pitch will or will not do. ” This Indian team, I feel, is absolutely competent of managing any surface. Having witnessed that thus far in the tournament. And if it’s a drier pitch, which is likely now that the rains have stopped. As a result, there will be no sign of wetness. Yes, there will be one with a little bit of spin, there is no doubt about that. However, the Mumbai pitch is normally quite good for batting, so I don’t expect too many problems.” said Gavaskar on India Today.
“With the bowlers we have, bowlers who have bowled superbly whether they are bowling first or second. I don’t think the pitch would be an issue at all. ” I believe this occurs on the eve of a match when there is nothing to write about and then. You know, you want to say anything because you want to fill in your columns, you want to speak about pitches and stuff like that. It makes no difference to me. If the pitch changes after the toss, they will undoubtedly have a discussion. However, if the pitch is the same before the toss, I don’t believe any noise should be made,” the 74-year-old remarked.
Vaughan turned to his official ‘X’ (previously known as Twitter) profile to request that the semi-final be play on a new pitch.
“A World Cup semi-final should be play on a new pitch…” It’s as easy as that…,” the former England captain wrote on X.
It has to be noted that this dispute has detracted somewhat from the exciting semi-final match between two of the best teams in the world.
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