Last Update on: September 27th, 2023 at 06:31 pm
Veteran commentator Harsha Bhogle and former India head coach Ravi Shastri criticized the pitch at Saurashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Rajkot. Bhogle wasn’t impressed with the flatness of the surface and highlighted that boundary dimensions should be bigger on belter like these.
India and Australia are facing off with each other in the final game of the series at Rajkot. After the first innings of the game, the pitch came under scrutiny as it favored batters in all ends. The surface for the dead rubber has been belter with nothing in for bowlers.
The first innings saw bowlers, both spinners as well as pacers, getting taken to cleaners by the batters. The ball seemed to coming in the bat nicely and even with the soft ball, it didn’t seem that things were slowing up, which depicts the kind of surface it has been.
Harsha Bhogle touted Rajkot’s pitch as a ‘road’ and suggested that BCCI should push the boundary ropes back as this ground has space. Taking to his X account, he explained:
“If we are going to make roads for pitches, at least we should push the boundary ropes back; certainly at grounds like this one that have the space.”
If we are going to make roads for pitches, at least we should push the boundary ropes back; certainly at grounds like this one that have the space.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) September 27, 2023
Ravi Shastri Calls Rajkot Pitch “One Of The Best Highways In India”
Apart from Harsha Bhogle, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri too didn’t go easy on Rajkot pitch. The commentator called the surface ‘one of the best highways’ in India. He made the comments on air during the 3rd India vs Australia game.
Coming to the match, Australia won the toss and elected to bat first. They had a staggering start with the bat as David Warner (56) and Mitchell Marsh (96) were off to the flyer as they added 78 runs for the opening partnership. After that, Steve Smith chipped in too.
The batter scored 74 runs before Marnus Labuschagne stepped up too. He smashed 72 runs that powered Australia to a gigantic total of 352 runs. For India, Jasprit Bumrah picked up three wickets but went for 81 runs. Whereas Kuldeep Yadav picked two wickets as well.
