Mumbai: Hours before the first semi-final of the 2023 ICC World Cup is set to get underway at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, news reports have emerged that the BCCI has forced a change of pitches for the big India vs New Zealand fixture.
The match was supposed to originally be played on a completely unused pitch – Pitch 7, however, reports suggest it will now be played on Pitch 6 which has already been used in two matches so far – the 21 October South Africa vs England game and the 2 November India vs Sri Lanka match that the hosts won by a massive 302 run margin.
Pitches at ICC events don’t come under the purview of the home board and are instead prepared under the supervision of the ICC’s pitch consultant- Andy Atkinson in this case. It is believed that Andy and the BCCI had worked together to decide in advance which pitches would be used for the five matches at the Wankhede, but that line-up has now been overruled by the BCCI.
“6-8-6-8-7 was the planned rotation at Wankhede. 6-8-6-8 is what has been used so far,” ESPNcricinfo quoted a source as saying.
According to The Daily Mail, in an email accessed by them, Andy Atkinson is said to have shared his concerns over the BCCI making independent decisions regarding the pitches: “As a result of these actions, one must speculate if this will be the first ever ICC CWC final to have a pitch which has been specifically chosen and prepared to their stipulation at the request of the team management and/or the hierarchy of the home nation board.”
“Or will it be selected or prepared without favouritism for either of the sides competing in the match in the usual manner, and unquestionably because it is the usual pitch for the occasion?” wrote Atkinson in an email shared by Daily Mail.
There is no pre-requisite requirement from the ICC for knockout matches to be played on fresh pitches. Their Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process reads as: “It is expected that venues that are allocated the responsibility of hosting a match will present the best possible pitch and outfield conditions for that match.”
The semi-finals of the 2019 Men’s ODI World Cup in England were played on fresh pitches at Old Trafford and Edgbaston. But last year, Men’s T20 World Cup semi-finals were played on used pitches at Adelaide Oval and Sydney Cricket Ground.
