Why blaming the pitches for Australia’s series defeat is a diversionary tactic by the Aussies

With the outcome of the series no longer in doubt and the only question being whether it is going to be a 3-1 or 2-1 verdict in India’s favour, a section of the Australians have started blaming the ‘flat’ pitches for Australia’s series loss.

This is an age-old tactic by them to deflect the attention away from the poor standard of their cricket and place the blame somewhere else. During the 2017 Australian tour to India, the Aussie media had gone berserk in blaming the Indian pitches for their poor performance.

They had even stooped so low as to accuse BCCI and Virat Kohli of ‘doctoring’ the pitches, especially the pitch at Ranchi. However, whether it is their Test series loss in India or the loss on their home soil, pitches have precious little to do with the eventual outcome.

This time, even the Australian captain Tim Paine has jumped the bandwagon by saying that the pitches in this series suit the Indians more than the home team.

However, the simple fact is that this Australian team has been outplayed by a superior Indian team. In fact, if Australia manage to draw the Sydney Test, a 1-2 defeat margin could actually flatter the Australians.

India have been a far superior outfit in the series and especially in the Sydney Test, the Indian dominance with both bat and ball has been far too great to not warrant a win.

Former cricketing greats including Michael Vaughan and Harbhajan Singh have highlighted the flaw in the ‘flat pitch’ argument by pointing out that the Aussie batsmen have struggled to score big even on these so-called flat pitches, and they would have had a more torrid time if the pitches were more bowler-friendly.

This tactic of blaming the ‘flat’ pitches by the Aussies for Australia’s series loss must not be allowed to take away any gloss off the historic Indian series win against the Australians.

On the evidence of the constantly rising standard of Indian cricket and the free-fall of the standard of their Australian counterparts, it is safe to assume that this is the first of many such Test series wins for India in future. It is a watershed moment in Indian cricket.