More India is allowed to get away, more toothless ICC will look: Michael Vaughan
London: Former England captain Michael Vaughan has slammed the BCCI for producing pitches that are not deemed good enough for Test cricket and said the more India is allowed to "get away with whatever they wish", the more "toothless" the ICC will look.
England on Thursday suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat in the third Test against India on a spin-friendly Motera track to go down 1-2 in the four-match series.
The match ended inside two days with the pitch drawing flak from former players like Vaughan, though batting legend Sunil Gavaskar credited the Indian spinners rather than blaming the surface.
"The longer powerful countries like India are allowed to get away with it the more toothless the ICC will look," Vaughan wrote in the Daily Telegraph.
"The governing body are allowing India to produce whatever they wish and it is Test cricket that is getting hurt," he said.
"It is a real concern for the game that we have seen India respond to going 1-0 down by producing pitches which turn prodigiously from ball one and which they know full well will only last two or three days."
Vaughan, who has led England from 2003 to 2008, felt broadcasters asking for refunds if a match finishes too soon may help change things.
"Perhaps it will take broadcasters to ask for refunds for things to change. They accept Test finishing early because the players are not good enough but not when home boards produce such poor pitches.
"They are left with three blank days but are still having to pay for production. They will not be happy and might think twice about good money for Test rights," Vaughan said.
He called India's win "a shallow victory" but admitted that the home team is much better equipped to deal with the conditions.
"India won the third Test but it was shallow victory. In fact, there was no winners from that game at all," Vaughan started his column with these words.
He added, "Yet, India showed their skill. We are not being fair if we do not accept that their skill levels in those conditions are far better than England's.
"But the good of the game needs to be looked at and as ex-players it is our duty to call it out."
Vaughan said the pitches in the last two Tests have let the players down.
"We have to be fair and recognise that these players are battling for their careers and over the last two weeks they have been let down by the surfaces.
"How can anyone say 250 is a par first innings score in a Test and claim the pitch is good enough. Test cricket is not about accepting you need to have a bit of fortune as a batsman to score runs in the first innings.
"... If you have a World Test Championship you need to deduct points for producing surfaces that are not deemed good enough for Test cricket."
He also blamed England's rotational policy and said they deserved to be in the position they are in at the moment.
"The disregard they showed by sending Jonny Bairstow home to walk his dogs for two weeks and then go back and bat at three against Ravi Ashwin has bitten them on the backside."
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Voting underway in 14 Lok Sabha constituencies in Karnataka
Bengaluru (PTI): Voting was underway on Friday in the first phase of Lok Sabha polls in 14 constituencies in Karnataka.
Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm.
A total of 247 candidates -- 226 men and 21 women -- are in the fray for the first phase covering most of the southern and coastal districts, where more than 2.88 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in 30,602 polling stations.
The Congress and BJP are locking horns on the electoral battleground again in less than a year.
This election is witnessing a straight fight between the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) combine unlike the Assembly elections in May last year which witnessed a triangular contest among the three parties.
The state has a total of 28 Lok Sabha constituencies. The second phase of polling in the remaining 14 seats is on May seven.
In the first phase, while the Congress is contesting in all 14 seats, BJP has fielded nominees in 11 and its alliance partner JD(S), which joined the National Democratic Alliance in (NDA) in September last year, in three -- Hassan, Mandya and Kolar.
Besides the three, the segments where elections are being held on Friday are: Udupi-Chikmagalur, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Tumkur, Mysore, Chamarajanagar, Bangalore Rural, Bangalore North, Bangalore Central, Bangalore South and Chikkballapur.
According to Election Commission, 1.4 lakh polling officials are on duty for the first phase.
Besides them, 5,000 micro-observers, 50,000 civil police personnel, and 65 companies of Central Paramilitary Force and State Armed Police force of other States have been deployed for security.
All the 2,829 polling stations of Bangalore Rural parliamentary constituency are being webcast.
"This is as per the request of our returning officers and observers; so we have given more than double the Central paramilitary force for Bangalore Rural constituency. Seven companies of Central paramilitary forces have been inducted at the constituency since April 22," Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena has said.
In fact, out of the total 30,602 polling stations in the first phase, 19,701 are webcast, and 1,370 covered via CCTVs, he had added.
Chikkaballapur has a maximum number of 29 candidates, followed by 24 in Bangalore Central, and Dakshina Kannada has the least number at nine.
JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy from Mandya, his brother-in-law and noted cardiologist C N Manjunath from Bangalore Rural on a BJP ticket against Deputy CM D K Shivakumar's brother and MP D K Suresh of Congress, and erstwhile Mysuru royal family scion Yaduveer Krishnadatta Chamaraja Wadiyar from Mysore, from the BJP, are among the prominent candidates in the fray in the first phase.
Also in the contest are BJP MP Tejasvi Surya from Bangalore South pitted against Minister Ramalinga Reddy's daughter Sowmya Reddy of Congress, and Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje on BJP ticket from Bangalore North against former Indian Institute of Management Bangalore professor M V Rajeev Gowda of Congress.
