IND vs AUS: ICC rates Indore pitch 'poor' after third Test ends inside three days at Holkar Stadium

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come down hard on the Indore pitch used duringthe third Test between India and Australia, by rating it ‘poor’. This decision came hours after the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series ended inside three days with Australia winning it by nine wickets. Although the previous two Tests also got wrapped up well before stumps on day three, this Indore pitch has received three demerit points as the match referee Chris Broad feels ‘the pitch that was very dry didn’t provide the right balance between bat and ball.’

Broad after consulting captains of both teams – Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith submitted his report to the apex body and mentioned that this surface was not suitable for a Test match as it had uneven bounce throughout the game.

Speaking on the same, Chris Broad said, “The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start.

"The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match.”

As a result, the Indore pitch will receive three demerit points while the BCCI will have a two-week window to appeal against the sanction. As per ICC’s Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, a venue will be suspended from hosting an international match for one year if it accumulates five or more demerit points over a rolling period of five years.

Meanwhile, the spinners from both teams found great purchase off the pitch as out of the 31 wickets that fell across four innings, 26 of them went to the spinners and just four to the pacers. While for India, Jadeja picked five wickets and Ashwin returned with three, Australia’s veteran spinner Nathan Lyon picked up his second eighth-wicket haul (8 for 63 in the second innings) in Tests, ending the match with a total of 11 wickets to his name.

Following this Test, the series stands at 2-1 in favour of India with the final match scheduled to take place at Ahmedabad on March 9th.