Australia captain Ricky Ponting condemned the pitch at Bombay's Wankhede Stadium as unfit for test cricket after his team lost the fourth match against India in less than three days on Friday. Forty wickets fell in just 202 overs on a track with uneven bounce and sharp turn.
"This was nowhere near a test wicket," Ponting told reporters after his team fell 14 short of the 107-run target. "It's a disappointing end to a great series. Everyone knows what the wicket was like. It was disappointing for everyone, the players and the fans, that the match ended so fast."
The first day's play was almost entirely washed out due to rain, so effectively the test lasted for just over two days. "It's great to be tested in different conditions and we all know the ball turns in India. But there was very little batsmen could do on a track like this," Ponting said.
Michael Clarke was Australia's unlikely bowling hero, using his occasional left-arm spin to take six wickets for nine runs to run through the Indian lower order.
"I don't need to say much about a track where someone like Clarke can take six wickets in no time," Ponting said.
Indian captain Rahul Dravid, leading because of a groin strain to Saurav Ganguly, agreed with his Australian counterpart but said it had still been a great match.
"The wicket was definitely not ideal but it was great a fabulous game with the teams running each other close right till the end," he said.
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