Published: Dec 02, 2015, 05:18 PM (IST)
Edited: Dec 02, 2015, 05:18 PM (IST)
The Nagpur Test between India and South Africa has been in the news for past few days for all the wrong reasons. Cricket fraternity and media criticised the pitch and ridiculed it left, right and center. Now, the International Cricket Council (ICC) match referee Jeff Crowe has termed it ‘poor’ in his official report. This has infuriated Indian Test captain Virat Kohli.
The skipper, on the eve of fourth and final Test in Delhi, first took a dig at the media. “There have been three scores of under 50 runs and six scores of under 100 (in an innings) in South Africa but I haven’t seen any sort of articles on that,” said an angry Kohli, when he was being asked about the ‘poor’ Nagpur pitch.
When a journalist pointed that it’s an official ICC report, Kohli maintained his attacking stance. “Yes, I am talking about anyone (including ICC). I am not only talking about people writing articles in general. It’s an assessment that happens in every condition and at every ground. Unfortunately, the situation in our country is highlighted a bit too much and that’s a fact. Because only thing we talk about is the pitch and when we were in South Africa, the only thing we talked about is how badly we played,” insisted Kohli.
When the ‘Pink Ball’ Test in Adelaide came up for discussion, a livid Kohli said, “I don’t think anyone has written an article about Adelaide Test which finished in two and half days. So I don’t see anything wrong in our pitches.” The final Test begins December 3 at Kohli’s hometown Delhi. All eyes will be on the quality of pitch used for the match.
