Harbhajan Singh Slams BCCI for using turning tracks at home following India's defeat in ICC WTC final

Harbhajan Singh slammed BCCI on preparing rank-turners after ICC WTC final 2023 loss.

On Sunday, India suffered a massive 209-run defeat at the hands of Australia in the final of the World Test Championship at the Oval. It ended the dreams of all Indian fans for winning an ICC trophy. That didn't end well for some of the former cricketers, including Harbhajan Singh. The former off-spinner slammed the BCCI for preparing turning pitches in India in order to prepare for big matches like WTC final, which affects the Indian batting.

Team India dominated Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at home before the IPL 2023 and won by 2-1 margin. But they surrendered against Australia when it mattered the most. The Australian team dominated in the entire test match and won their ninth ICC title. With this they became the only team in history to win all major tournaments across all three formats. On the other hand, it was another loss for India in the WTC Final.

"A lot of things we should rectify"- Harbhajan Singh on humiliating defeat in ICC WTC final 2023

India won the BGT Series 2023 beating Australia on the turning pitches. Apart from the last test which ended in a draw, other games ended in three days or so. Though India won the series and retained the BGT trophy but it wasn't an ideal preparation for the Indian batters because they got totally a different conditions in England and the batting failures in both innings caused India the defeat.

Harbhajan Singh also feels that BCCI preparing turning pitches at home doesn't help the batters a lot. In an discussion on Star Sports after India's WTC loss, he said, "You cannot give yourself that fake confidence after playing and winning matches on bad pitches where the ball starts spinning from ball one. You will have to develop a habit of working hard for five days. Only then you will find yourself prepared better for these big matches. Fast bowlers do not get to bowl much on these pitches, spinners are used right from the first over. There are a lot of things we should rectify."

Speaking of the game, there was only one half-century from India in two innings. Ajinkya Rahane made 89 runs during the first innings and none of the other batters could score a fifty. On the other hand, Australia had two brilliant centuries from Steven Smith and Travis Head each that pushed India to the backfoot.