• BCCI interferes with World Cup pitches

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    Pitch changes requested by the BCCI are set to favour India in their World Cup semi-final against New Zealand and in the final, should they get there.

    A slow pitch is expected at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai for Thursday’s first semi-final after team management reportedly had a request granted by BCCI curators.

    The Indian Express reported Indian officials asked BCCI curators to shave off most of the grass on the playing surface.

    A Mumbai Cricket Association official reportedly confirmed to the newspaper a message was conveyed to prepare a slow track before the home team reached Mumbai.

    “It won’t be a turner but the team had asked for a slow pitch. It was the main reason we shaved off the grass,” a source told the newspaper.

    Meanwhile, ICC pitch consultant Andy Atkinson complained in an email that the pitch for the final may be a slower one, previously used twice, instead of the one intended.

    The tournament’s opening game in Ahmedabad took place on the pre-agreed pitch No 6 but none of the next three matches conformed to the schedule.

    Atkinson was then told by the ICC’s senior events manager at the stadium the India vs Pakistan game on 14 October took place on pitch No 7, when it actually took place on pitch No 5.

    Atkinson warned in an email: “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?”

    The BCCI said the Gujarat Cricket Association authorised the changes while the GCA claimed they were acting under instructions from the BCCI, with the requests coming from Indian team management, claimed the Daily Mail.

    Photo: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

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    Simon Borchardt