Furious Team India Captain Rohit Sharma Slams ICC Match Referees, Indicates Bias Against India
The captain of the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma, was in an attacking mood after the second Test against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town. With the test ending in less than five sessions, making it the shortest match in the format ever (in terms of the number of balls bowled), there have been question marks on the quality of the pitch. On the first day of the match, 23 wickets fell. Both India and South Africa found the going tough. They gave a better account of themselves in the second innings, yet a two-day Test match was beyond explanation.
While Rohit did not criticize the Newlands pitch directly, he was upfront in slamming the attack that Indian pitches come under, particularly for its spinning nature.
Rohit Sharma said, “When you’re here to play Test cricket, you talk about Test cricket as the ultimate prize and pinnacle, and then you should stand by it.”
“When you are put up with a challenge like that, you should come and face it. In India, day one, the pitch starts turning, and they keep talking about ‘puff of dust, puff of dust. So much crack here on the pitch’.”
Former England opener Chris Broad was the ICC match referee for the two-test series, and Rohit believes that the global body’s empaneled referees should be "neutral.”.
The skipper said aggressively, “It’s important we stay neutral everywhere we go, especially the match referees. Some of these match referees need to keep their eyes on how they rate pitches.”