{"id":299545,"date":"2023-11-16T13:24:52","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T13:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=299545"},"modified":"2023-11-16T13:24:52","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T13:24:52","slug":"india-legend-labels-pitch-critics-morons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/%d1%81ricket\/india-legend-labels-pitch-critics-morons\/","title":{"rendered":"India legend labels pitch critics &apos;morons&apos;"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Cricket World Cup: India legend labels pitch critics &#8216;morons&#8217; and tells Michael Vaughan to &#8216;shut up&#8217; amid controversy<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>India legend has hit out at &#8216;morons&#8217;\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><b>A pitch controversy has hit the World Cup<\/b><\/li>\n<li><strong>READ: Australia make fast start to semi-final\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>India have copped widespread criticism after switching the pitches before their World Cup semi-final victory, but cricket legend Sunil Gavaskar believes those critics are &#8216;morons&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>The host nation swept New Zealand aside on Wednesday to book their place in the final and move a step closer to securing a third ODI World Cup crown.<\/p>\n<p>But there was controversy before the game after Mail Sport revealed the semi-final would be played on a used pitch in Mumbai&#8217;s Wankhede Stadium, which had already staged two games earlier in the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>The ICC&#8217;s pitch consultant was less than impressed with the change, wih Indian officials asking BCCI curators to shave off most of the grass on the surface.<\/p>\n<p>Former England captain Michael Vaughan was scathing of the move.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/11\/77874333-12756893-image-a-12_1700133150165.jpg\" height=\"418\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>India legend Sunil Gavaskar has hit out at &#8216;morons&#8217; who criticised the pitch decision<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/11\/77874337-12756893-image-a-13_1700133152578.jpg\" height=\"406\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Mail Sport revealed that India swapped the pitch ahead of their World Cup semi final<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It is a bit of a sour taste,&#8217; he said on Test Match Special. &#8216;It doesn&#8217;t sit with me that a World Cup semi-final is played on a used pitch.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I don&#8217;t think India needed to do anything. They have played the best cricket by a country mile. They shouldn&#8217;t have got involved in what the surface should be.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Vaughan later added: &#8216;Let&#8217;s not beat around the truth: the ICC want India in the final. They probably would&#8217;ve beaten New Zealand on any pitch\u2026 The rest of the world will be like: &#8216;Really? Don&#8217;t make it so obvious.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Anil Kumble, the respected former India spinner and head coach, told ESPNcricinfo he had &#8216;no idea&#8217; why the pitch had been changed so late on.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;It&#8217;s very surprising,&#8217; he said. &#8216;All the broadcast equipment was set up for the [fresh] pitch and now today it seems like they&#8217;ve moved to the surface which was used.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Pakistan legend Wasim Akram tweeted: &#8216;This should be the last thing on the Indian cricket team&#8217;s mind. This is just unnecessary.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>But Gavaskar has branded those detractors as &#8216;morons&#8217; and says they should &#8216;shut up&#8217;.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;This has been such a good pitch to bat on. We&#8217;ve had nearly 730 runs scored here,&#8217; he said on Star Sports.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;All those morons who were talking about the pitch being changed and that it would do the Indian bowlers a favour, I hope they will just shut up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/16\/11\/77874353-12756893-image-a-14_1700133154791.jpg\" height=\"453\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Michael Vaughan hit out at the move and said it was blatant but he&#8217;s been told to &#8216;shut up&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Stop taking potshots at India just because it helps you get eyeballs. Nonsense.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Even if the pitch was changed, it was there before the toss for both the teams. It wasn&#8217;t changed in the mid-innings. It wasn&#8217;t changed after the toss was done.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;The pitch was the same for both teams. You are a good enough team, you play on that pitch and you win. And India has done that. So stop talking about pitches.<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;Already they&#8217;re talking about the pitch in Ahmedabad (the venue for the final). The second semi-final hasn&#8217;t even taken place, you&#8217;re talking about the pitch being changed in Ahmedabad. Nonsense.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/cricket\/article-12756893\/India-legend-labels-pitch-critics-morons.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cricket World Cup: India legend labels pitch critics &#8216;morons&#8217; and tells Michael Vaughan to &#8216;shut up&#8217; amid controversy India legend <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299544,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>India legend labels pitch critics &amp;apos;morons&amp;apos; - Sportstons<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/\u0441ricket\/india-legend-labels-pitch-critics-morons\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"India legend labels pitch critics &amp;apos;morons&amp;apos; 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