The SG Test ball is seemingly not living up to the standards. Sourav Ganguly, however, defended its use, saying it could be an odd lot that has been creating problems.
“Sometimes there could be a case that one lot (that has come this year) is not good enough. I think they (SG) will fix it. And why only SG, as Graeme Smith said (at the Jagmohan Dalmiya Memorial Lecture), Kookaburra, too, is causing problems,” Ganguly told The Indian Express.
Last season, the BCCI had used the SG whites for the first time in the domestic limited-overs tournaments. But the ball received a negative feedback from the captains and coaches. The SG red, however, didn’t face any criticism and during its meeting earlier this year, the Ganguly-led BCCI technical committee decided to stick with the SG ball for first-class cricket and Tests in India.
But the SG red came under the scanner after Virat Kohli gave a damning assessment of its quality during the recently concluded home series against West Indies. “To have a ball scuffed up in five overs is not something that we have seen before,” the India captain had said. Umesh Yadav, too, spoke about the ball going soft “after 20 overs”.
