AB de Villiers makes 'stock-standard' comment on Cape Town pitch after Rohit Sharma blasts ICC over double standards
The Indian captain was not the only one to have raised a concern about the Cape Town pitch, as 23 wickets fell on Day 1 and 10 more by the second afternoon.
A visibly furious Rohit Sharma did not mince words when asked for his assessment on the Cape Town track where the second and final Test match between India and South Africa ended within just five sessions, making it the shortest-ever Test match played in cricket history. The Indian captain was not the only one, though, to have raised a concern about the standard of the pitch in Newlands, as 23 wickets fell on Day 1 and 10 more by the second afternoon. However, South Africa legend AB de Villiers termed the wicket as "pretty stock-standard".
The Test match lasted only 107 overs. In the opening session, South Africa were skittled for just 55 runs after Mohammed Siraj picked up a six-wicket haul. India then managed to go from 153 for four to losing six wickets in a space of nine balls without adding a single run. In the remaining part of Day 1, South Africa went three down again as the likes of Dean Elgar, Tristan Stubbs and Tony de Zorzi got out twice on the same day.
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On the following morning, although Aiden Markram managed to get a hundred, amid the lack of support, the hosts could only set a target of 79 which was chased in 12 overs by India for the loss of three wickets.
"It (Cape Town) was a pretty stock-standard wicket, in my opinion. I remember jumping around there on Day 1," De Villiers said on his YouTube channel. "If you can just get through the first session on Day 1, it gets easier. If you see the players playing their shots and not hanging around, they were doing well. I remember Ben Stokes scoring a double hundred there. I scored some hundreds there. You cannot allow bowlers like Vernon Philander, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kagiso Rabada to keep bowling on off-stump"
Earlier on Thursday, after India scripted a seven-wicket win to level the series, Rohit said that he fine playing in such conditions as long as critics keep their "mouths shut" about Indian pitches.
"I mean, we saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that. I honestly don't mind playing on pitches like this. As long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and don't talk too much about Indian pitches, honestly," he said.
The veteran India opener also called out ICC over their double standards in rating pitches, after admitting that he was rather shocked when the World Cup final track was rated below average.
"I think it's important that we stay neutral everywhere we go. Especially the match referees. You know, some of these match referees need to keep their eye on how they rate pitches. It's quite important. I still can't believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the ICC, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that's quite important," he added.
