Off the track: Three times when Indian pitch was under scrutiny

The history of Indian cricket has been a witness to many matches that hogged the limelight for all the wrong reasons. There have been instances when the pitches made by the groundsmen failed to live up to the expectations of the players and invited criticism from all over the cricket fraternity including the International Cricket Council (ICC). Here are 3 times when the pitch was in limelight in India:

IND vs SL: 1997 Indore ODI

India hosted the first-ever international game that was called off due to an unsafe pitch. Sri Lanka and India were up against each other in the second ODI of the three-match series on December 25, 1997, at the Nehru Stadium in Indore. The groundsman produced a cracked and dry pitch for the game and proved to be deadly for the batsmen.

After facing variable bounce from the pitch for the first two overs, the on-field Sri Lanka batsmen decided to complain to the umpires. This resulted in the match officials reaching to the conclusion that the pitch is not safe for play and the match should be abandoned. However, a 25-over exhibition match was conducted between both sides as compensation.

IND vs ENG: 2021 Motera Test

The first day-night Test between India and England in the newly-built Narendra Modi Stadium ended on a bizarre note as the match was concluded within two days and India registered a victory by 10 wickets. Bowlers from both the sides ruled the show as no batsmen could survive the spinners. The short duration of the five-day Test match raised a lot of eyebrows in the cricket fraternity as many questions were raised regarding the quality of the pitch.

The pitch that started turning right from the outset is said to assist the spinners and many blamed India saying that they curated the surface to benefit the home team. One notable point here is that even a part-time spinner like Joe Root could scalp as many as five wickets.

IND vs SL: 2009 Kotla ODI

India and Sri Lanka were up against each other in the last of the five-match One Day series at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on December 27, 2009. However, after playing for 23.3 overs, the visiting batsmen walked out of the field terming the cricket pitch as unsafe for human life. The Sri Lanka players had to suffer many blows on their bodies owing to the uneven bounce produced by the pitch.

This resulted in a long discussion among the umpires, match officials and captains of both teams. The discussion ended with the match officials abandoning the game saying that the pitch was of “extremely variable bounce and too dangerous for further play”