Flat pitch compounds Irani Cup crisis

Any strip where the result is decided by the toss is a bad one: Jaffer

March 19, 2018 10:48 pm | Updated 10:48 pm IST - NAGPUR

Fair point: Though Jaffer made the most of a lifeless pitch, he feels that it defeats the purpose of the game.

Fair point: Though Jaffer made the most of a lifeless pitch, he feels that it defeats the purpose of the game.

At a time when the BCCI intends to adopt new measures to popularise domestic cricket, the last thing it would have wanted was a flat pitch for the Irani Cup .

With domestic cricket in general and the Irani Cup in particular suffering from an existential crisis, the flat pitch at Jamtha has only compounded the situation.

So lop-sided was the equation that the bowlers — be it pacers or spinners — just did not come into play all over the five days. Even the home team did not expect such a flat track.

No doubt, Vidarbha was desperate to get the better of the Rest of India whose batting line-up appeared to have been selected based on the Ranji Trophy highest run-getters’ list rather than potential and batting positions.

While century-maker Ganesh Satish admitted to the Jamtha pitch being “one of the flattest” he has played on, veteran Wasim Jaffer, whose incredible innings of 286 at the age of 40 was easily the highlight, was also critical of the 22-yard strip.

When The Hindu asked Jaffer after the game if such a pitch was a bad advertisement for the game, he said: “I think so. You would like to see a five-day game go on to the second innings. Any pitch where the result is decided on the toss is a bad wicket.

“I mean even if we had lost the toss, they would have posted a big score. In general, you need to play on sporting tracks where everybody is in the game at different phases. That’s how an ideal pitch should be.”

After a two-year break, the BCCI allowed the Ranji champion to stage the Irani Cup. In fact, the board wants to break away from its neutral-venue policy for Ranji knockouts from next season.

However, after the Irani experience, it could well stick to the existing policy for the knockouts.

The timing of the match, too, made it inconsequential, with the cricketing globe already switching to T20 mode.

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