Bishan Singh Bedi not impressed with Kotla wicket, felt it’s ‘poorly kept’

India took on Australia in the fifth and final game of the five-ODI series at the Feroz Shah Kotla Ground in Delhi on Wednesday. Once leading 2-0 in the series, Virat Kohli’s side would have never hoped that the winner would be decided in the final game but that’s what cricket is all about – uncertainty. India lost the third, fourth and fifth clashes in Ranchi (by 32 runs), Mohali (4 wickets) and Delhi (by 35 runs) to allow Aaron Finch’s side to win the series. They were particularly hurt by the loss in Mohali where the Kangaroos successfully chased down 359 runs.

India brought back Mohammed Shami into their side for the final game even though he was rested for the final two games. Yuzvendra Chahal sat out for the game as the hosts were under pressure to win the series and thought Shami’s good form would be handy in that mission. However, the Australians still had a good start to their batting after Finch won the toss and elected to bat.

Opener Usman Khawaja hit his second hundred of the series while one of the heroes of the Mohali game, Peter Handscomb, hit 52. Marcus Stoinis was back into the playing XI despite having an injured thumb as Shaun Marsh was dropped. Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi was, however, not impressed with the wicket at Kotla where the ball seemed to have started turning 10 overs into the Australian innings. The former left-arm spinner felt the wicket has been “poorly kept”.

In a tweet, Bedi said the playing surface at the venue looked “overused” even though not much domestic cricket has been played there. He felt some “cosmetic treatment” could have been given to the wicket to make it look nice and green.

Playing surface at Kotla looks overused ..& yet not much domestic Crkt has been played there..even the rest o the square looks poorly kept..fr this game at least some ‘cosmetic’ treatment cud’ve been provided to the entire square fr it to appear nice & green to the ‘eye’..!!!

— Bishan Bedi (@BishanBedi) March 13, 2019

In another tweet, the 72-year-old said the Delhi venue didn’t look good as a Day 1 wicket and called it “low and slow pitch” which is unlikely to see a big score being posted.

Kotla doesn’t look gud 1Day wkt..low & slow pitch not likely fr big score..Indns bring n 1more seamer while Aust has Lyon 2 back up Zampa..we don’t have 2 wait too long to know who’s read Kotla pitch better..as long as it’s cracker of an ODI…??!!!

— Bishan Bedi (@BishanBedi) March 13, 2019

Gavaskar too felt the wicket will be low

Another former great Sunil Gavaskar too had a similar view. Talking about the pitch, he said: “Very little lateral movement on offer off the wicket, and the bounce will be a little low, so the average score is very low – about 220-230. The dew can have an effect later, there will be a little bit of spin with the grip on offer, but not enough to intimidate the batsmen.”

India captain Virat Kohli said he would have preferred to bat and said he hoped the wicket didn’t crumble too much and there is no dew in the second half.

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