A bad pitch should be called bad: Aakash Chopra on Rohit's criticism of pitch scrutiny

Listen to Story Former India opener Aakash Chopra agreed with Rohit Sharma's call for consistency from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in rating pitches, but stressed that a bad pitch should be called out, regardless of whether it's in the sub continent or overseas. Chopra's comments came after Rohit Sharma lashed out at the ICC officials for inconsistent ratings to pitch following the end of the Cape Town Test in 1 and a half days.

Rohit Sharma did not hold back after the end of the Cape Town Test, saying that about Indian pitches that offer assistance to spinners early on. Rohit also slammed the ICC officials for rating the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch average after the World Cup 2023 final between India and Australia on November 19.

Questions were asked about the nature of the pitch at Newlands as 23 wickets fell on the opening day, eventually resulting in the shortest completed Test match in the history of the sport. Only 107 overs were bowled as India rattled South Africa in the first innings, bowling them out for just 55. India managed 153 despite losing their last 6 wickets without scoring a run.

South Africa's Aiden Markram hit a sensational hundred in the second innings but it was not enough as India chased down 79 runs with 7 wickets to spare. "The big question is what is right and what is wrong. Rohit said no one should talk about the pitch and that the match referees should watch properly because if you felt the World Cup final pitch was bad, what sort of pitch was this? He is right," Aakash Chopra said in his YouTube show.

"My thinking is Is this pitch right? Are the one and a half to two day match turners prepared in India right? We are trying to justify one extreme with another. The truth is neither this nor that is right. A bad pitch should be called bad, whether it is ours or someone else's," he added.

"Let's be honest, you cannot justify in any way that these are good pitches, whether it is Cape Town, Wanderers, Perth, Ahmedabad, Indore or Delhi. These are not even challenging wickets, they are luck based pitches," he added. Rohit Sharma's disappointment stems from how the match officials .

Even during the Border Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia. The pitches that were used in the first and second Tests, in Nagpur and Delhi were rated average even as India showed the way to tackle the spin threat in such conditions. The Indore pitch on which Australia beat India, was given a poor rating..