Former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief Raj Singh Dungarpur strongly voiced his support of the wicket on which the third Test between India and Australia is being played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur.
"I am sorry and surprised that Australians called it an Australian wicket and Indians called it unplayable. I think it would have been best if both the teams could have kept to cricket. I think predictions on wickets are much worse that prediction on election results," he told newspersons in Nagpur on Wednesday.
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He said "the fact that 362 runs were scored and seven wickets were taken" on day one of the Test bears testimony to his opinion.
"In the month of November this wicket behaves exactly the way it behaved yesterday [day 1 of the Test]. I have been watching Test cricket from 1955 to now and it was the best first day wicket I saw. It seamed, it turned and the bat got on to the ball."
Dungarpur said Adam Gilchrist and Sourav Ganguly's pre-match assessment of the wicket was unnecessary.
"It could've been avoided. I think the Indian captain making such a lengthy observation would've only demoralized the team. Even if it is a bad wicket you have to play. Now it is proven that it was a magnificent wicket. I compliment and congratulate the Vidarbha Cricket Association for producing such a wicket. The match is not over yet and I'm sure it will be proven that this is a very good track," he added.
Complementing the Indian bowlers for restricting the Aussies, Dungarpur, who played first class cricket for Rajasthan in the 1960s, said, "The advantage of a toss in a five-day match is important but on this wicket it was nullified. And Zaheer Khan bowled a great spell and our spinners bowled a great spell, Murali Kartik in particular. I think some of us have to concentrate on cricket here.
"The bad wickets don't suit our players. A bad wicket is a bad wicket and the better team will take advantage of it. And for Gilchrist to say that it was an Australian wicket was a psychological ploy.
"A senior ICC official, representing his country in the ICC, said that these were remarks that did not go too well with them. He said the teams are not supposed to make a song and dance about the wicket."
Talking about the controversy whether Indian cricketers represent India or the BCCI, Dungarpur, who backed Union Minister and Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar at the BCCI elections, hit out at the BCCI's president-elect, Ranbir Singh Mahendra.
"It [the controversy] is very embarrassing. Even a player like Mushtaq Ali, who is normally very quiet, has spoken against it. People have been hurt because of this. How could the president, elected, in inverted commas, make such a statement.
"I think it is important somewhere down the line to strengthen the legal position of the Board. In order to avoid the confusion of authority the Supreme Court ruled that it was BCCI.
"Kapil Dev said that he has played only two matches for the Board, the Board President XI matches, which is an apt description."
