'Can't believe the hype' - Michael Kasprowicz defends Indian pitches amidst criticism

Former Australia cricketer Michael Kasprowicz has expressed his thoughts on8 the raging debate surrounding the Indian pitches, of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023.

Many debates have arisen ever since the commencement of the four-match Test series as multiple cricket pundits and players have criticised condition of the pitches. If the hullabaloo around the Nagpur and Delhi pitches was not enough, the discussion around the Indore pitch only increased after the third Test ended on just the third morning, before the pitch receiving a 'poor' rating by the ICC.

“I don’t believe the hype I reckon because for all the attention around the pitches they were typically Indian wickets,” the 51-year-old said while speaking to the Herald and The Age.

The former right-arm fast bowler stated that the discussion and criticism around the Indian pitches is being blown out of proportion and there is just too much unneccassary attention being given to that. Kasprowicz reckoned that he personally did not find anything that wrong with the Indian pitches. 

“I realise this last one in Indore did a few tricks early on, but because they’re starting so early (9.30am), maybe that little bit of moisture helps grab the ball. But at other stages later in the day, it wasn’t doing anything like that," he said.

He further emphasised on the fact that instead of sulking about not being given the pitch of one's choice, all the players from the sides should focus on playing quality cricket. Test cricket meant that players would have to adapt by all means to the toughest of conditions being presented to them.

'When I say don’t believe the hype, I know the odd ball was turning square, and it got a poor rating, but I remember turning up to the Bangalore Test in 1998, and I’ve got a picture of me standing on the wicket. It honestly looks like a dry creek bed. There’s no grass, but it’s got these cracks and spider cracks all down the whole face of it. And you just go well, like that’s what we’re gonna play on. And guess what? We’ve got to adapt and adjust. That’s the game of Test cricket," he said.

For a better experience: Download the CricTracker app from the IOS App Store and Google Play Store