‘If KL Rahul had played on these wickets and failed, his career had ended’ - Krishnamachari Srikkanth analyses Indore pitch

The pitch at the Holkar Cricket Stadium in Indore has created quite a stir in the cricketing world after the third Test of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy ended in just three days. A total of 30 wickets had fallen in the first two days of the Test match and following which, a lot of former cricketers like Matthew Hayden, Michael Clarke and Dilip Vengsarkar have expressed their dissatisfaction regarding the conditions. ICC too has rated the conditions to be ‘poor’ and handed three demerit points to the stadium's pitch.

In the meantime, former cricketer, Krishnamachari Srikkanth, too, revealed his assessment of the pitch. Citing the example of KL Rahul, who was dropped from the third Test, Srikkanth stated that it was for the better that the cricketer didn’t feature in Indore as he believes that if Rahul would have failed to perform, it could have ended his career.

“First and foremost, I am happy for KL Rahul. Thankfully, good that he did not play. If he had played on these wickets and failed to get going in the next two Tests, and if his career had ended... thank god, he didn't play. Frankly, speaking," Srikkanth said. 

"On these pitches, batting is very difficult. Whoever it is, batting is difficult. Let it be anybody, be it Virat Kohli, no one can score runs on these pitches. If you looked at it, Kuhnemann, bowling in the first innings, got the ball to rip through and turn square. On these wickets, taking wickets is not a big thing. Even if I had bowled, I would have picked up wickets. These are all hard talks, we have to accept them,” the former Indian opener said on his YouTube channel.

Not a good advertisement for Test cricket at all: Srikkanth

Srikkanth slammed the hosts for the pitches so far in the series and stated that it is not a good advertisement for Test cricket. He also reminded everyone that in 2008, they didn’t prepare turning tracks but India managed to win the series comfortably. 

“Not a good advertisement for Test cricket at all. They are doing a mistake. Yes, if you see the 2008 series against Australia. The pitches weren't rank turners but India would win the series 2-0. But here, the ball is turning square from Day 1. It's hard to watch the batting on these pitches. It's not a good advertisement for Test cricket," Srikkanth concluded.

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