Internet Desk: Former Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Ajay Shirke has asked for a CBI inquiry regarding Pune pitch where India played their first Test match against Australia. The pitch in Pune is now under ICC’s scanner after the match wrapped up in just three days.
The reports indicates that the Indian cricket team management forced MCA to produce a pitch that will favour the spinners from Day 1. After receiving a report from match referee Chris Broad the ICC has termed Pune pitch “poor”.
The former Maharashtra Cricket Association president Shirke has termed the incident at Pune as “pitch fixing.”
“I would like to see a CBI inquiry being initiated by the administrators appointed by the Supreme Court. It (doctoring pitches) has often plagued Indian cricket and it is high time we to get to the root of this mess. Instead of pointing fingers at various people without any evidence, I would like to see a CBI probe to find out the real culprit. Let they (CBI) check the phone records and find out who is passing on these messages,” Shirke told Hindustan Times.
“(Ever) since the spot fixing (in IPL 2013) came to light, the whole Board has been thrown out. Now let us see what steps the court-appointed administrators take to get to the root of pitch fixing,” added Shirke.
Shirke, who had come down from England to watch the debut Test at the venue, did not even spare MCA pitch curator Pandurang Salgaoncar.
“Pune has historically prepared seaming wickets, so what has suddenly gone wrong? Was Pandurang Salgaoncar (local curator) intoxicated? Did he go mad?” concluded Shirke.