Wasim Akram changes stance over Nagpur pitch, Sanjay Manjrekar trolls him

Wasim Akram and Ravi Shastri – Waz and Shaz

The controversy surrounding the nature of the pitches being used in the India-South Africa series refuses to die down. After Ravi Shastri blasted critics of the pitch, saying that he hoped the Kotla pitch would be the same as the Nagpur pitch, Wasim Akram came out in support of him.

However, as Sanjay Manjrekar has pointed out, Wasim Akram had previously been a vociferous critic of the Nagpur pitch. After seeing the first day’s play, Akram had compared the track to an ‘akhara’, or a wrestling pit.

He had also gone on to suggest a system wherein the ICC would deduct points from teams whichever would take the concept of home advantage overboard, or that the governing body should take up the responsibility of preparing all pitches for international matches.

However, this is what he had to say more recently:

“Apart from Day-Night Tests, I have been reading with interest the comments made by my friend Ravi Shastri. Whenever he speaks, he does so with confidence. Shaz was right when he said that if Faf and Hashim could graft, others could have too. I remember Sunil Gavaskar's last Test in 1987 against us at Bangalore, he grafted his way to a majestic 96. That pitch was worse than the one at Nagpur.”

As evinced from Manjrekar’s tweet, one thing has been made clear – the line has been drawn over the pitch debate, and opinions on both sides are strong.

Funnily though, that the Nagpur pitch was like a wrestling pit was a thought that had crossed the minds of other people as well:

Akram says Shastri right to slam critics of pitch in TOI today. He called the pitch 'Akhara' in TOI on 26th Nov. ð??? pic.twitter.com/h7T4QfN1X7

— Sanjay Manjrekar (@sanjaymanjrekar) November 30, 2015

The pitch in Nagpur is truly appalling; a dust bowl, a wrestling akhara passing off as a Test match pitch.

— Ramachandra Guha (@Ram_Guha) November 25, 2015