Nagpur pitch receives official warning from ICC
The International Cricket Council (ICC) today announced that the VCA stadium in Nagpur, which hosted the third Freedom Test between India and South Africa, has been given an official warning under the ICC Pitch Monitoring Process.
“The sanction took into consideration the fact that there had been no concerns about the performance of the pitch after any of the other international matches played at this venue,” ICC said in a medial release.
The pitch, which hosted the third Test from November 25 to 27, was rated “poor” by ICC match referee Jeff Crowe in his report. India won the test within three days defeating the Proteas by 124 runs. The Jamtha pitch also received flak from former cricketers for being a “dustbowl.”
The BCCI had strongly questioned Jeff Crowe’s judgment of the condition of Nagpur pitch in their reply to the ICC.
“In reaching the verdict, the ICC agreed with the “poor” rating given to the pitch by Jeff Crowe, the match referee for the Nagpur Test played from 25-27 November, who observed that the pitch did not allow a fair contest between bat and the ball,” ICC’s media release said.
After the BCCI’s response, Geoff Allardice, ICC's General Manager Cricket, and Ranjan Madugalle, the ICC's Chief Match Referee, considered the video evidence before reaching the conclusion on the performance of the pitch.