One Australian paper criticised the top panel’s decision, calling it ‘ridiculous. Even Australia’s former cricketer and coach Darren Lehmann reacted to the news on social media.
The pitch, which was very dry, provided no balance between bat and ball and favoured the spinners from the start, umpire Chris Broad wrote in his report. The fifth ball of the match broke the surface of the pitch and continued to break it occasionally, causing little or no movement in the seams, and the ball bounced excessively and unevenly throughout the match, he added.
After the BCCI appealed, footage of the game was reviewed, after which the rating was raised to ‘below average.
The ICC justified the decision in a statement, saying, The footage of the Test was reviewed by an ICC Appeals Panel comprising Wasim Khan, ICC General Manager – Cricket, and Roger Harper, ICC Men’s Cricket Committee Member. Both felt that while the umpire had followed the guidelines set out in Annex A of the pitch monitoring process, there was not enough excessive variable bounce to warrant a ‘poor’ rating.
the panel therefore concluded that the pitch should be rated ‘below average’, meaning that Holkar Stadium would only receive one demerit point instead of the original three
At Holkar Stadium, 14 wickets fell on the first day, and of the 31 wickets that fell during the Test, 26 went to spinners.
