The Border-Gavaskar series finished on a dour note when the fourth Test wrapped up as a draw on what was a batters paradise in Ahmedabad.
Only two wickets fell on a Day 5 pitch – one of them a tailender in Matt Kuhnemann – as just 22 wickets fell for the entire Test.
Australia was chasing a win to level up the series at 2-2, but Steve Smith’s men were never in the hunt on a pitch that offered nothing for quick bowlers nor the spinners.
It’s left veteran News Corp cricket writer Robert Craddock hoping the ICC gets involved again.
“Where’s Chris Broad, the match referee,” he asked on SEN’s Whateley.
“After the last Test in Indore, within hours of it he broke tradition by condemning the deck and saying what a shamefully biased deck it was towards spin bowlers.
“Yet it was an absolutely compelling, absorbing Test match. People watching in offices in both countries as Australia chased down 70.”
The previous Test, which lasted little over two days but with both sides in the hunt throughout, came in for criticism for Broad but was widely consumed by fans.
It was a match that generated hype and headlines throughout, yet there was little to be excited about in the fourth Test. The Test was destined to be a draw from lunch on Day 2, according to Gerard Whateley.
Craddock believes that batting decks are the ones that will lead to the downfall of Test cricket, not pitches like that in Indore which offer plenty for the bowlers.
“This time, this bore-a-thon, these are the decks that kill cricket, they really truly are… this Test literally could have gone for eight days, that’s what Test cricket has to beware of,” he continued.
“We have our fun with dodgy decks, we play them up and put a bit of theatre and drama about it, but the message is clear: dodgy decks do not kill Test cricket, flat decks do, end of story.
“That’s why I’m waiting for Chris Broad to condemn this deck in the opposite direction to how he condemned the other one.”
Despite India retaining the Border-Gavaskar trophy, there are still positives to take away for the tourists.
“I do feel Australia can leave with their heads in the air, they really can. Very few touring teams finish a series in India, let alone a four-Test series, in better shape than when they started,” Craddock added.
“They won the last two Tests 1-0 and they were extremely different decks. One was the spinners' paradise and they out-bowled India, and the second was a batsman’s paradise and they matched strides with India, not easy to do.
“A dignified yet titillatingly frustrating performance because Australia could have won this series.”