MS Dhoni unhappy with Eden Garden pitch
© BCCI Media
MS Dhoni, who is leading Jharkhand in the ongoing Vijay Hazare Trophy, was not too pleased with the wicket that was prepared for their match against Saurashtra on Wednesday. Jharkhand were bowled out for 125 in 27.3 overs but managed to sneak a win after restricting Saurashtra for 83 in 25.1 overs.
Batting first, Jharkhand were bowled out for a paltry 125 runs in 27.3 overs as Saurashtra's new-ball pair Shaurya Sanandita and Kushang Patel exploited the surface that assisted the seamers from the outset. Dhoni could manage to score only 23 runs before bowled out by Sanandita, who picked up his first five-wicket haul in List-A cricket. Although Jharkhand looked down and out after their innings, brilliant spells from India discard Varun Aaron and Rahul Shukla helped them bundle out Saurashtra for just 83 to win the match by 42 runs in the Group D clash.
After the low-scoring match, Dhoni was not too pleased with the pitch and was seen being involved in an animated conversation with the Eden pitch curator Sujan Mukherjee after the match. Mukherjee, however, insisted that Dhoni was not complaining about the wicket, although he did accept that he himself was not too pleased with how it had behaved during the game.
Yes he said the wicket seamed a lot but he never came to complain. Even I'm not happy with the wicket.
Pitch Curator
"
"He came to meet me as I was his East Zone coach during his U-19 days. During his previous match I was not here so he came to meet me," Mukherjee told PTI.
This incident has come just days after the wicket at the MCA Stadium in Pune came under the scanner after the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series was wrapped up on the third day. The wicket turned out to be a rank turner where batsmen struggled to score runs as India suffered a massive 333-run loss. Match referee Chris Board has rated the pitch as “poor” in his report, and the Maharashtra Cricket Association might be fined as a result.
