Men's ODI WC: ICC dismisses controversy, justifies pitch change for India-NZ semifinal

Mumbai, Nov 15 (IANS) The International Cricket Council (ICC) has justified the change of the pitch for the Men's ODI World Cup 2023 semifinal between India and New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium on Wednesday, informing that it was apprised of the reason and its independent consultant found nothing wrong with the strip used for the match.

A controversy had erupted before the match as some reports claimed that the match would be played on a used pitch instead of a fresh one earmarked for the semis earlier.

Some reports claimed that the BCCI through the local curator had changed the pitch -- on a suggestion from the Indian team management -- to one on which two matches have already been played.

The pitch turned out to be dry and slow, suiting the Indian batters.

However, the ICC has clarified that it was aware of the change in the pitch and its independent pitch consultant had no reason to believe that the pitch won’t play well.

"Changes to planned pitch rotations are common towards the end of an event of this length and has already happened a couple of times. This change was made on the recommendation of the venue curator in conjunction with our host," an ICC spokesman said in a statement on Wednesday.

"The ICC independent pitch consultant was apprised of the change and has no reason to believe the pitch won’t play well," the ICC added.

The BCCI has also clarified that the pitch change was carried out due to a technical issue with the fresh one earmarked for the semifinal.

The ICC rules do not specify that knockout matches have to be played only on fresh pitches. According to the ICC’s Pitch and Outfield Monitoring Process, "it is expected that the venues that are allocated the responsibility of hosting the match will present the best possible pitch and the outfield.”

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