Only The Bowlers Were Visible, The Batting Side Went Invisible: Inzamam-ul-Haq Critcizes World Test Championship Final Pitch

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq has questioned the pitch dished out during the ICC World Test Championship [WTC] final between India and New Zealand at the Hampshire Bowl in Southampton.

The WTC final was a rain-marred affair but despite the fact that two full days of the Test were abandoned due to rain, we still managed to get a result thanks to a seamer-friendly pitch and some appalling batting display by the Indians, especially in their second innings.

Inzamam-ul-Haq, on his Youtube channel, reckoned that the batsmen went ‘invisible’ due to the hostile nature of the surface besides asking as to who gave the idea of preparing such a pitch for a marquee final.

“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 this 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? First thing is I don’t understand is that for such a big game, how can you prepare such a pitch,” Inzamam-ul-Haq said on his YouTube channel.

Following the World Test Championship final, Indian skipper Virat Kohli said that he would like to have the best of three finals to decide the winner of the championship in the future.

However, Inzamam-ul-Haq reckoned that he would like to see the two finalists in future WTC’s play home and away against each other in the summit clash.

”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. 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 WTCs, the finals should be on a home and away basis, hosted by both the finalists,” Inzamam-ul-Haq said.

Also Read- Don’t Think Anything Was Wrong With Playing XI, Batsmen Let Us Down – MSK Prasad On India’s WTC Final Loss