"They were good wickets" - Rahul Dravid disagrees with 'average' rating for Chennai and Ahmedabad pitches in 2023 World Cup

Team India coach Rahul Dravid has disputed the 'average' rating given to the pitches in Chennai and Ahmedabad, where Australia and Pakistan played in the 2023 World Cup. Dravid reckons variety of pitches across the nation is critical, as it brings out different skilsets.

Australia struggled with the bat on the Chennai track that turned square from the outset as India's three spinners exploited it to bowl them out for 199. Pakistan, meanwhile, collapsed to 191 from 155-2 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. The hosts won both games fairly comfortably.

Ahead of India's game against New Zealand in Dharamshala on Sunday, the former Indian captain said that scores above 350 are not favourable to watch all the time. He also reckons high-scoring games leaves the bowlers nowhere.

As quoted by Cricbuzz, Dravid said:

"I will definitely respectfully disagree with the average rating given for those two wickets. I think they were good wickets. If you only want to see 350 games and rate only those wickets as good, then I disagree with that. I think you have to see different skills on display as well."

"It's not about if we wanted to see only fours and sixes being hit, then we have T20 wickets as well, where, honestly, in Delhi or in Pune, we probably (played on) 350-plus wickets as well. Only those are good wickets, then why are the bowlers here? Why have spinners at all, for that matter?"

The Men in Blue's top order also struggled against Australia in Chennai due to the seam movement on offer with the new ball. They succumbed to 2-3 before Virat Kohli and KL Rahul stabilised things.

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"We need to have a better way of deciding" - Rahul Dravid on rating pitches

Rahul Dravid (Image Credits: Twitter)

Dravid reflected that the wickets in Delhi and Pune were also batting-friendly but called for balanced pitches to ensure good contests. The former player added:

"Some of the wickets, even we have played, I mean, honestly, in Delhi and Pune, rotating the strike in the middle overs wasn't necessarily a very difficult skill.

"The contest was about who could hit more fours and sixes. So that's not the only way, in my opinion, respectfully, to be able to judge wickets. I think we need to have a better way of deciding what is good and average."

India and New Zealand are the only unbeaten sides in the tournament. The Kiwis haven't lost to India in an ICC event since 2003.