The ICC has penalized Bengaluru for not producing a quality wicket that saw the second Test match between India and Sri Lanka getting over within three days. In a report that was submitted to the world body by match referee Javagal Srinath, the former India cricketer gave the pitch a below average rating for not finding it suitable for something he called as ‘even contest between bat and ball.’ This meant that the ICC awards one demerit point to M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
According to the revised ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, venues whose pitches are rated below average by match referees receive one demerit point, while three and five demerit points are awarded to venues whose pitches are marked as poor and unfit respectively. Demerit points remain valid for a five-year period and if they accumulate upto five in number, the venue is suspended from hosting any international cricket for a period of 12 months.
The match between India and Sri Lanka saw as many as 16 wickets falling on the opening day. It also saw Sri Lanka losing five wickets within a span of 4.4 overs on the next morning. Dimuth Karunaratne, Sri Lanka skipper, scored a fighting century but couldn’t help his team on a pitch that was deteriorating by the minute. “The pitch offered a lot of turn on the first day itself and though it improved with every session, in my view, it was not an even contest between bat and ball,” Srinath said in the report.
Chasing 447 for victory, Sri Lanka were bowled out for 208 on Day 3 after Dimuth Karunaratne put up a valiant 107 on a surface that turned from day one. India had also won the opening Test inside three days in Mohali and a win in the pink-ball game helped them record a 2-0 whitewash and jump to No. 4 position in the World Test Championship (WTC) table.
Get all the latest updates on Cricket News, Cricket Photos, Cricket Videos, IPL Auction 2022 and Cricket Scores here