Kotla ka Ghosla : The pitch-farce

[Cricketics]

Why did they react so late.. Why did this all happend when 5 wickets were down. Dilshan got hurt way to early. Why didn't they react before??? Zaheer's deliveries which skit through happen in first 10-15 over. The thing is that they weren't 5 down in first 10 overs. As soon as Sanga and team realized that they are about to be beaten badly in that last game also, they thought of starting the drama.

[vvvslaxman]

Bounce was not true. People can tolerate low bouncing tracks. But this one was a dangerous one. Even Nehra looked like killing someone. Sure Atatppatu clearly admitted none of the wickets fallen were due to pitch. But he also said the pitch was not fit enough . Reason is everyone expected the pitch to settle down after moisture is gone. But it continued to behave erratically. So they had to stop it which was the right move.

[DomainK]

Yes.

[MUMBAISKIPPER]

just cannot understand why did SL play for 23 odd overs?If the pitch was bad they should have complained about it earlier.

[vvvslaxman]

just cannot understand why did SL play for 23 odd overs?If the pitch was bad they should have complained about it earlier.

It got worse and worse. Initially they put it down to some early moisture and grassy patches. But as it hit the patches more and more it started taking off out of nowhere.

[jusarrived]

Shewag wud have got a 100 of 70 balls & no would know it was a dangerous pitch

[OriginalCopy]

It was a bad pitch with uneven bounce. The way the balls were rising up from good length, it was pretty bad. There's no defense to a bad pitch no matter how much we try. And I'm pretty sure it would only have become worse after getting rougher with more play, more dangerous when India came out to bat.

[OriginalCopy]

Shewag wud have got a 100 of 70 balls & no would know it was a dangerous pitch

What if Sehwag had walked off retired hurt with a broken rib?

[saneindian]

Trust me pitches for domestic matches at Kotla(especially during peak winters) have been worse than what we saw the other day. I have seen many a domestic batsmen getting hit continuously and yet carrying on. Not one match in the past has been called off.

[OriginalCopy]

2 things: 1) BIG difference between domestic and international cricketers. Based on the amount of money they make (and for the love of just playing cricket or for the love of their country), they cannot risk any injury. Domestic cricketers in India are much more tolerant. Even I remember playing on plain grassy pitch with hardly any brown in there with no pads and a "cork" ball, in my younger days. If you got hurt, too bad. You'd come after 3 days and do the same thing all over again. The international cricketers cannot afford to sit out matches for injuries that they could avoid. 2) I am from Delhi and have seen the pitch in Delhi. Firstly, there has hardly ever been grass left on the pitch, if ever. The pitch invariably takes lots of spin, mostly form the second day itself, but the bounce is still consistent. It is not dangerous to play. All balls going below the ankle is just a stupid unsporty pitch, but one there and the other one bouncing almost over the keeper from the good length is plain dangerous. Look at it this way: these are international players of the highest class. How many times have they gotten hit like this in a single innings? The Indian bowling was the same and Lankan batting was the same. Obviously, it was the pitch. Now decide if what I'm trying to convey makes sense.

[PotterManiac]

We got ti accept the truth, the pitch was 'unfit' and even Team India would have had their concerns

[THX_1138]

Wonder if Srilanka hadn't lost 5 wickets and were 150-2' date=' would they have complained??????[/quote'] you are missing the point mate... if they were 150 for 2, then obviously the pitch was not as cumbersome to deal with. the reason sri lanka complained is partly to do with the uneven bounce, which was very much there for all to see, and partly because the uneven bounce was hurting their players. the delay in their protest was probably due to the fact that there was some anxiety about complaining about the pitch when for four matches on a trot, the batsmen had been plundering, thus some might have seen it as a law of averages catching up with them... after a few good runs with the bat, here was one where the bowlers called the game. i am not supportive of these periodic accusations that the sri lankas were afraid or insincere in their approach. the pitch was terrible, end of.

[Feed]

Azad walks out of DDCA meet, says insulted for raising Kotla The bickering within the Delhi and District Cricket Association over the Feroze Shah Kotla pitch fiasco took an ugly turn on Tuesday with board member Kirti Azad storming out of the body's annual general meeting claiming that he was insulted for raising the issue. More...

[achilles]

On Times Now, they are saying he was even manhandled

[Sachinism]

He's insulted because they brought up the issue of the Kotla pitch? WTF

[ESPN]

Pitch fiasco: Azad walks out of AGM Pitch fiasco: Azad walks out of AGM The bickering within the DDCA over the pitch fiasco took an ugly turn today with board member Kirti Azad storming out of the body's annual general meeting. Azad alleged that members who raised the issue of the Kotla pitch, the dangerous uneven bounce of which forced the abandonment of the fifth and final India-Sri Lanka one-dayer on Sunday, were manhandled by DDCA officials. "When I entered, some people tried to insult me. Some members were mishandled when they were asking questions in the meeting. As we are members of DDCA, it is our duty to ask questions. Today's meeting has left me deeply hurt," the former cricketer, who attended a DDCA AGM for the first time, said. However, DDCA Sports Secretary Sunil Dev denied Azad's allegations and claimed that the meeting went off peacefully. "The meeting was peaceful and no incident took place. Resolutions were passed unanimously and everyone was allowed to speak. Nothing at all happened," Dev said. Asked if Azad had been insulted or manhandled for raising the the Kotla pitch issue, Dev said, "Not at all. If any of the members who attended the meeting say that something of this sort happened, I will resign immediately." "The AGM went off well, our accounts were passed. Eight Directors were elected and it all happened peacefully," he insisted. "Kotla discussion was raised by some members and their questions were answered by our President. If there was a mistake, we will mend it," he added.

[achilles]

....If there was a mistake' date= we will mend it," he added.

Isn't this indication enough that something went terribly wrong at the meeting? I have not seen DDCA issue "sympathetic" statements like these, not even when Sehwag exposed them

[DomainK]

DDCA is an organization of thugs.

[ViruRulez]

DDCA is an organization of thugs.

I am still not sure what is the problem with Kotla? I am not sure if it is Kotla pathetic as a ground or if DDCA is crap and hence, the ground has been pathetic in all recent matches .. since the last one or two years this uneven bounce has been a big problem with Kotla .. can this problem not be solved.. what can be done about this .. will the whole ground need to be rebuilt or can the pitch only be made good .. I am not much into ground but really this Kotla ground is proving to be a pain in the @$$ for long .. I could have understood one or two matches but there was uneven bounce in Champions Trophy, Aus series, this series and similar games .. there must be something seriously wrong there .. but can the pitch not be made good .. it would be a shame if Delhi does not host much cricket matches in the future .. maybe after commonwealth games, a few of the commonwealth stadiums can also be used for cricket but right now I am really getting pissed off with Kotla as a ground and DDCA as an organization

[saneindian]

Dont go by the public faces of DDCA i.e. Jaitley and Mr Chetan Chauhan. Both of them are absolutely powerless. At DDCA, everything is remote controlled by a Sports Comittee which comprises of goons in the garb of administrators. The sports committee is selected by representatives of almost 150 odd clubs affiliated to DDCA and not surprisingly, the same memebrs have retained their posts for the last 15-20 years. A visit to Kotla on any evening and an interaction with a few people closely associated with the game will tell you how corrupt the entire organisation is. Its sickeing to say the least and I am surprised how the BCCI has chose to remain silent despite all the facts clearly known to anyone who follows Delhi cricket closely.