Author: Shamik Chakrabarty

The International Cricket Council (ICC) announced on Tuesday that the pitch for the second Test between South Africa and India at Newlands has been rated as “unsatisfactory”. Accordingly, the venue has received one demerit point. The game in Cape Town lasted just 642 legal deliveries — the shortest in the history of Test cricket — and was over in a day-and-a-half. Twenty-three wickets fell on Day One, with Mohammed Siraj taking a career-best 6/15 and the hosts getting bundled out for 55 in their first innings. From that perspective, an “unsatisfactory” rating, which amounts to ‘below average’, is dubious enough…