‘All Those Morons… Stop Talking Nonsense’, Sunil Gavaskar Shuts Down Pitch Controversy Talks

New Zealand’s captain Kane Williamson has shut down the Wankhede pitch controversy after a section of international media, in the lead-up to the India vs New Zealand World Cup semifinal claimed that BCCI had doctored the pitch to suit the host nation India.

At the presser after the match, Williamson said that the pitch was a used one but it played just the way a regular surface is supposed to.

“No, I mean, yeah it was a used wicket, but a pretty good surface really, as we saw. I mean, they got plenty out of it in the first half of the match. And conditions, I guess they change as they go under lights and things, and that’s what we’ve seen throughout this competition,” said Williamson.

The Wankhede stadium pitch throughout the tournament has offered a little bit to spinners in the first half before giving the same incentive to fast bowlers under lights as humidity and light breeze come into consideration. The same thing happened in the semifinal match when Indian bowlers took the ball post 6:30 pm.

“That’s what you expect and they played well. So yeah, I mean it’s disappointing to get to this stage and not go further, but also at the same time you sort of reflect on the seven weeks rather than a couple of small moments and we lost to a better side,” added the Kiwi captain.

After the match, legendary cricketer Sunil Gavaskar slammed the critics of the pitch by terming them “morons”. “All the morons who were talking about the pitch change. Just stop. Stop taking potshots at Indian cricket. People have said a lot of things to attract eyeballs or whatever. It is all nonsense. The pitch was there and even if it was changed, it was there before the toss for both the teams,” said Gavaskar.

“Stop talking about pitches. Already they are talking about Ahmedabad and the second semifinal hasn’t even taken place. They are talking about the pitch being changed in Ahmedabad. Nonsense,” he added.

As per the reports, a fresh pitch was originally planned to be used for semifinal matches. However, since India is the first team to qualify for the semifinal, a used surface that assists the home team spinners was employed for use, leading to an accusation of pitch alteration.

While a section of media created furore regarding the fresh pitch, ICC released a statement saying no regulation was violated in the allotment of the surface.

The Indian spinners had a tough time on the pitch as Williamson and Saryl Mitchell never allowed them to settle. It was Mohammed Shami’s genius with the ball that allowed India to walk away with a win when the Kiwis at one point, threatened to chase down 398.