Former Pakistan captain and a legend of the game Inzamam-ul-Haq has expressed his disappointment at the nature of the pitch used in the World Test Championship (WTC) final between India and New Zealand.
In the summit clash played at Rose Bowl in Southampton, bowlers dominated and eventually New Zealand defeated India by eight wickets. Inzamam raised the same point and reckoned that the pitch wasn’t suitable for such a huge game as the bowlers dictated terms and batting was quite challenging.
“This Test match was six days long, and out of that, almost four days saw consistent rain, and still it got over within 2.5 days. No one mentioned that who gave the idea that such a pitch should be used for the World Test Championship final, where only the bowlers were visible, but the batting side went invisible?” said Inzamam on his YouTube channel.
“I don’t understand is that for such a big game, how can you prepare such a pitch,” he added.
Before the WTC final, many experts, including Indian head coach Ravi Shastri suggested that the next final of the WTC second cycle should have the best-of-three to decide the winner. Inzamam also shared his views on this topic, stating that two games should take place – one at home and the other in away conditions.
“My advice is that you make it two Tests, devise a points system, play one game in New Zealand or whoever is the finalist and the other in India. The result would have come out fairer in that case,” suggested the 51-year-old.
“If it were like the World Cup, where every match is played in the same country, including the final, then it was different. So, it is just my opinion that in the future, the finals should be on a home and away basis, hosted by both the finalists,” concluded Inzamam.
