Former BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke demands CBI enquiry into Pune Test pitch

Pune: Former BCCI secretary Ajay Shirke has demanded a CBI inquiry about the Pune pitch which was used for the opening Test between India and Australia. The pitch at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium has come under the scanner after the match got over in under three days.

While there were reports indicating about Indian cricket team management forcing MCA to prepare a wicket which will favour the spinners from Day 1, ICC, following a report from match referee Chris Broad, has termed the Pune pitch “poor”.

The turn of events has not pleased Shirke, former Maharashtra Cricket Association president and he has termed the fiasco at Pune as “pitch fixing”.

“I would like to see a CBI inquiry being initiated by the administrators appointed by the Supreme Court. It (doctoring pitches) has often plagued Indian cricket and it is high time we to get to the root of this mess. Instead of pointing fingers at various people without any evidence, I would like to see a CBI probe to find out the real culprit. Let they (CBI) check the phone records and find out who is passing on these messages,” Shirke told Hindustan Times.

“(Ever) since the spot fixing (in IPL 2013) came to light, the whole Board has been thrown out. Now let us see what steps the court-appointed administrators take to get to the root of pitch fixing,” added Shirke.

Shirke, who had come down from England to watch the debut Test at the venue, did not even spare MCA pitch curator Pandurang Salgaoncar.

“Pune has historically prepared seaming wickets, so what has suddenly gone wrong? Was Pandurang Salgaoncar (local curator) intoxicated? Did he go mad?” concluded Shirke.