LIVE: India’s ‘outrageous’ pitch demand slammed

According to ESPNCricinfo, tonight’s semi-final will be played on a used pitch that has already staged two matches in the tournament.

The match was initially slated to be played on Pitch 7, the central pitch on Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium, a surface that has not yet been used.

However, a decision has been made to switch to Pitch 6, which is slightly off-centre.

The two matches played on the pitch have resulted in two comprehensive victories, with South Africa beating England by 229 runs and India beating Sri Lanka by 302 runs.

News of the pitch swap comes after the Indian Express reported that Indian officials had asked curators to shave off most of the grass on the surface in the hopes of having a slow pitch for the semi-final.

The pitch swap has caused outrage among cricket fans, with SEN’s Gerard Whateley sounding off.

“I can’t believe that. No, I shouldn’t say that … I can believe this absolutely, that this is happening,” he said.

“I think it’s outrageous. This is an international tournament.

“Prepare the pitches however you like for your home series, every nation has the choice to do that if they want to.

“But this is an international tournament, it hasn’t quite felt that way.

“It’s felt like a tournament in India for India and for India to win. This is evidently going on.

“It’s one thing when you’re the host nation of your own Test series for the team to influence the preparation for the pitch.

“It just shouldn’t be happening at an international tournament.

“It is just so brazen as to be breath-taking and confirms everything that we know about pitch preparation in India. No matter how much denial there is of it.”