'ICC should dock India's points if pitch for next Test remains same'

The criticism about the Ahmedabad pitch for the day-night test refuses to die down. Former England Monty Panesar was the latest to give his opinion on the pitch. Panesar said ICC should dock World Test Championship points from India if they prepare a similar track in Ahmedabad for the fourth India-England Test starting on March 4.

The day-night Test match ended in two days with India beating England by 10 wickets to take a 2-1 lead in the four-match series. As many as 17 wickets fell on Day 2 of the Test match and all of them belonged to the spinners.

Noted former England cricketers like Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss, and David Lloyd blamed the pitch with Lloyd even asking the ICC to dock India's WTC points for preparing such a track.

In an interaction with news agency ANI, Panesar said ICC probably would pass this one but it should definitely penalize India if the same is repeated in the next Test match.

"I think if the next Test match is the same, then yes, the ICC should dock points. Everyone is delighted that cricket has now got the biggest stadium in the world now. At least the curator should have produced a good wicket, even if it's a turning wicket, everyone was complaining about Chennai, this was even worse," Panesar said.

Panesar said he has no problem with pitches that assist the spinners but the Test match should last at least 3 or 4 days.

"If you are going to produce a turning wicket, at least the match should go for 3-3.5 days. India will probably produce a turning pitch, at least it should last for three days. The Indian people are saying England batsmen cannot play spin very well, if you take that into account, Alistair Cook and Kevin Pietersen have scored runs here, Cook has got a record as good as Matthew Hayden in India. Pietersen did score quickly, do England have that? No, they do not," he added.

Further elaborating on his point, Panesar said: "I think ICC will pass on this one, because it was played with a pink ball. To be honest with you, I can believe what the players from both teams are saying. If you bowl it slowly, the pink ball goes quicker of the surface. Let's see how the red ball reacts, let's see if India wins again within 3-3.5 days, India's argument is going to be we can produce spinning tracks but are England batsmen skill levels up to the levels it needs to be?" Panesar added.