Sunil Gavaskar takes aim at pitch switch conspiracy critics: ‘Hope all those morons shut up’ | Cricket-world-cup News
After the Indian cricket team entered the final of the ongoing Cricket World Cup with a 70-run victory over New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, Indian cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar lashed out at critics, who had hinted that the pitch for the semi-final had been changed last minute at the behest of the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
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Ahead of the semi-final there were media reports that the pitch for the match had been changed. The semi-final was initially supposed to be played on Pitch No 7, but was instead played on Pitch No 6.
Pitch No 7 is the centre-most strip at the Wankhede Stadium. It was a pitch that was not used during the league stage of the World Cup. Pitch No 6, on the other hand, had already hosted two matches in the group stages: South Africa’s 229-run victory over England on October 21, and India’s 302-run win over neighbours Sri Lanka on November 2.
Respect to Mr. Sunil Gavaskar for speaking up on this…much appreciated! #IndiaVsNewZealand pic.twitter.com/LSccniNOok
— Teja (@pst10_) November 15, 2023
“This was such a good pitch to bat on. We got almost 400 runs from one team and 320-odd runs from the other team. All those morons who were talking about how the pitch has been changed and how this has been done to do the Indian bowlers a favour, I hope they will just shut up instead of taking potshots at India just to get some eyeballs. Nonsense! Even if the pitch was changed, it was changed before the toss. The same pitch was used for both the teams. It wasn’t changed in mid-innings or after the toss was done. Pitch is the same for both teams. You play on the same pitch and you win… India has done that,” said Gavaskar on Star Sports after India’s victory.
Former England captain Michael Vaughan was among those who had slammed the decision to change the pitch at the last moment. “A World Cup semi should be played on a fresh pitch .. It’s as simple as that,” he had posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.Most Read
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Gavaskar went on to add: “Think people should stop talking about pitches! Already they (critics) are talking about Ahmedabad. The second semi-final has not even been played and you’re talking about the pitch being changed in Ahmedabad. Nonsense!”
The International Cricket Council also had responded to the media reports about the pitch being changed issuing a press release.
“Changes to planned pitch rotations are common towards the end of an event of this length, and has already happened a couple of times. This change was made on the recommendation of the venue curator in conjunction with our host. The ICC independent pitch consultant was apprised of the change and has no reason to believe the pitch won’t play well,” the ICC said in a statement.
