Indore pitch rated 'poor' by ICC after frenetic third Test

The pitch for the third Test in Indore has been swiftly sanctioned by the International Cricket Council, earning just the second "poor" rating since the introduction of new regulations five years ago.

Match referee Chris Broad handed down the decision on Friday only hours after Australia sealed a nine-wicket victory in a Test that only went a little more than an hour into the third day.

Batters from both teams had struggled to come to terms with the treacherous Holkar Stadium surface, while India coach Rahul Dravid had engaged in a lengthy discussion with the ground's curator at lunch on the first day.

Broad's rating means the venue receives three demerit points, with the match referee noting the pitch had been shown to be sub-standard from the very first over of the Test when a Mitchell Starc delivery caused an explosion of turf.

"The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start," Broad said in an ICC statement issued late on Friday evening (India time). 

"The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match."

The Board for Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) have a fortnight to appeal the decision.

It is the first pitch to receive a poor rating – the second worst verdict available to match referees, only above "unfit" – since the 2018 Wanderers Test between South Africa and India.

Indore was only announced as the third Test venue after the Border-Gavaskar Series had begun, with the BCCI making the shift from Dharamsala, where it was deemed the outfield was not up to scratch. 

India captain Rohit Sharma said his team wants to play on spin-friendly surfaces to maximise their home advantage.

"Before a series starts, you have to decide on what pitches you need to play," Rohit told reporters after Australia's victory set the series ledger at 2-1. "It was our call to play on such pitches. We knew that we could face challenges as well, but we were ready for these challenges.

"We are here to win whether it is two days or five days, it doesn't matter. We don't want to prepare a pitch where the results are not coming. We want to play to win.

"And we do understand it can come back to haunt us, I am aware of that."

In Tests hosted by India that have achieved a result, only the 2021 Ahmedabad match against England has seen fewer runs scored than this week's Indore Test.

Australia have now played in four Tests in the past 12 months that have seen pitches deemed unsatisfactory, with surfaces in Rawalpindi (against Pakistan in March last year), Galle (against Sri Lanka in July) and Brisbane (against South Africa in December) all deemed "below average" by the ICC. 

Their stand-in skipper Steve Smith questioned whether the Indore pitch had been too spin friendly.

"I prefer this than just a genuine flat wicket that goes five days and can be boring in stages," said Smith. "With this one, whether it might have been a little bit too extreme, potentially from the first ball, I'm not really entirely sure."

The ICC introduced a new rating system at the start of 2018 which sees venues receive demerit points for inadequate surfaces. An unfit rating sees a ground docked five demerit points, poor gets three and below average incurs one.

Any ground that accumulates five demerit points over a rolling five-year period will be banned from hosting any international matches for 12 months, while a venue that racks up 10 demerit points will have its right to stage Tests and limited-overs fixtures stripped for two years.

The ICC's regulations define a "poor" pitch as one that "displays little or no seam movement or turn at any stage in the match together with no significant bounce or carry, thereby depriving the bowlers of a fair contest between bat and ball".

Border-Gavaskar Qantas Tour of India 2023

February 9-13: India won by an innings and 132 runs

February 17-21: India won by six wickets

March 1-5: Australia won by nine wickets

March 9-13: Fourth Test, Ahmedabad, 3pm AEDT

All matches broadcast live and exclusive on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat