ICC match referee Chris Broad rates Pune pitch as ‘poor’

The ICC has six categories for rating Test match pitches: very good, good, above average, below average, poor and unfit. Australian spin duo of Steve O’Keefe and Nathan Lyon out bowled the fancied pairing of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.

The ball turned from day one in Pune, with conditions incredibly hard for batting – something Australia exploited.

Australia were considered second favourites against India and even former cricketers like Harbhajan Singh stated the home team will win 4-0.

Australia coach Darren Lehmann has been left in awe of left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe after his 12 wicket haul set up victory in the first Test in India.

“To be honest, that wasn’t a pitch”, Harbhajan told the Indian Express.

“I wouldn’t say it was flawless”, Smith said.

“That’s what happened in Pune”.

As per an ICC release, the report has been forwarded to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which now has 14 days to respond to it. The point that we are trying to make is that the Indian team didn’t put enough pressure to ensure Hazlewood is on strike for long enough so that he could be consistently tested by the India bowlers. I’m sure he’ll come back bigger and stronger in the next Test, so we’re going to have to be wary of that Virat comeback.

“I think it was certainly a wicket would more likely suit the Indian players”, said Smith. “Not this one. ‘Til then, I will reserve my comments”.

R Sudhakar Rao, secretary of the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA), has said the Bengaluru pitch for the second Test between India and Australia, starting Saturday, would last five days. We missed so many chances. He also said the Indian team has not arrived on site yet and have not left any instructions to be followed either. The crushing 333 run defeat comes as an eye-opener for the team and exposes chinks in India’s armour, the main one being relying too heavily on stars rather than all-round team performance.

Harbhajan, who also admitted his predictions “have been proved wrong”, was more magnanimous on Twitter. Yes we have, in the Australia series of 2013. It would be easy to look at pitch and suggest the toss played a significant role, but that would be unfair to Australia, who outplayed India in all facets of the game, and more than doubled their totals in both innings.

For this is a pitch on which the great fast bowler Imran Khan once refrained from bowling in the second innings, allowing his spinners to do their thing instead.