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Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest cricketers of all time and the current head coach of Team India, has slammed the International Cricket Council (ICC) for giving average ratings to the pitches in Chennai and Ahmedabad for India’s matches in the ODI World Cup 2023. The 50-year-old stated that if ICC wants to see only 350 runs on the board for pitches to be rated as good in the flagship tournament, then he will disagree with that.
The ICC has rated only the pitches of Chennai and Ahmedabad for India matches as “average,” where they skittled out Australia for 199 runs and Pakistan for 191 runs respectively, to chase those totals in a comfortable manner. Apart from that, the rest of the pitches have been rated either as “good” or “very good,’’ during the early stages of the ODI World Cup 2023, as per the report from NDTV Sports.
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The former captain of India was quoted as saying about the pitch rating to the press, in the build-up to the India versus New Zealand match in the ODI World Cup 2023, “I will definitely respectfully disagree with the average rating given for those two wickets. I think they were good wickets. If you only want to see 350 (run) games and rate only those wickets as good, then I disagree with that. I think, you have to see different skills on display as well.”
“It's not about if we wanted to see only 4s and 6s being hit, then we have T20 wickets as well, where, honestly, in Delhi or in Pune, probably 350-plus wickets as well. Only those are good wickets, then why are the bowlers here? Why have spinners at all, for that matter?” he added.
Rahul Dravid also spoke about how the 50 overs format is about showcasing all skills involved in cricket, in respect to the players involved, and said, “I disagree with that (just hitting) because I think we should see all skills on display, the ability to rotate strike through the middle. See the quality of watching (Ravindra) Jadeja bowl or a (Mitchell) Santner bowl or a (Adam) Zampa bowl or watching Kane Williamson rotate the strike through the middle, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul the way they batted against Australia. Those are skills as well. Those also need to come out and be shown and be displayed. ”
