Indore pitch rated as poor, gets three demerit points 

The pitch at the Holkare Cricket Stadium in Indore, the venue of the third Test.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

In a blow to India and the Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association, Match Referee Chris Broad has given three demerit points to the pitch at the Holkar Stadium where the third India-Australia Test was held.

Broad, after discussions with the two captains, Rohit Sharma and Steve Smith, rated the pitch as “poor.”

BCCI has 14 days to appeal against the sanction. A venue will be suspended from hosting an international match for 12 months if it accumulates five demerit points or more in a period of five years.

The third Test concluded early on day three, in a match where the spinners called the shots.

Broad said in his report to the ICC, “The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start.”

The match-referee said there were puffs of dust from the pitch from very early on in the game.

He added,”The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match.”

The Pune pitch in 2017, a venue for the India-Australia Test then, was the last time a surface in India was rated poor.

Interestingly, in pitches prepared for Indian spinners, Australia won both at Pune and now in Indore.