'Why is he crying' - Fans slam former Aussie cricketer Mark Waugh for his "22-day pitch" remark on Day 4 of 4th Test

Mark Waugh & Virat Kohli (Image credit: Twitter)

India ended the first innings on Day 4 of the fourth Test after taking a lead of 91 runs. Subhman Gill and Virat Kohli scored magnificent centuries and helped hosts to put up a massive score of 571 on the board. There were some valuable contributions from the other batters as well, with India registering six consecutive 50+ run partnership for the first time in Test cricket history. The visitors also had two centuries, Usman Khawaja with 180 and Cameron Greene with 114 to take the team total to 480 in the first innings.

After a tough outing for the batters in the first three Tests on spin-friendly pitches, they managed to find some runs in the fourth Test as the Ahmedabad pitch was more batting-friendly. The matches in Nagpur, Delhi and Indore ended within three days, inviting criticism from former cricketers and fans. However, the final Test has entered into Day 5 and Australia are trailing by 88 runs.

Meanwhile, former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh doesn't seem impressed with the batters scoring runs he criticized the Ahmedabad pitch as a "22-day pitch". Waugh, who earlier lashed out at the curators for not deciding which track to use for the final Test match, also criticized the first three matches which ended within three days.

The former right-handed batter said, "The last 3 Tests were on 2 days pitch, this is on a 22 day pitch."

'How you don’t know what pitch you’re playing on': Waugh

Mark Waugh slammed the curators for waiting until the last minute to finalize the track where the final Test match will be held. His comments came as two pitches were prepared for the series decider and it was not decided which pitch would host the match until the last evening of the contest.

Speaking on FOX cricket, Waugh said, "This is not on. I don't know how you don't know what pitch you're playing on. In Australia, I think the groundsman and curators are told months in advance, so they set up the pitch for the camera, the side-screen, the spectators. But in India, it's different."

"It's a bit like county cricket. You used to turn up to county grounds and there would be three pitches prepared depending on who turned up for the opposition side, then they would decide. I don't know what's going on here but I think something needs to be done about this, he added.

Here's how fans reacted to Waugh's "22 day pitch" remark: 

Be it a good pitch or bad pitch , Aussies will always find a way to cry about pitch in case they are losing series

And elder brother Steve once said - Never take Mark seriously unless he is standing at slips for catching the edges going to him"

— ً (@SarcasticCowboy) March 12, 2023

At any given point, Aussies hv only things to complain of... 🙄

— Ramkrishna Iyer (@KannanK51531500) March 12, 2023

Why is he crying 😂😂

— 🇮🇳 Vipul Sehgal (@VipulSehgal312) March 12, 2023

Sab pitches se problem hai isko

— aarnav13 (@aarnav_13) March 12, 2023

We'll show levels to australia on day 5....

— Snowww (@kunalro77461591) March 12, 2023

Cry more Australia 🤣🤣😂🤣

— (VIRAT KOHLI FAN BOY)💖💕💖💖💖 (@Aamirkh54565417) March 12, 2023

Australia can neither play on 2 day pitch nor 22 days pitch

— Avinash Reddy (@Avinash16929519) March 12, 2023

Waiting for more excuses from Aussies bring it more

— Samish Santhosh (@Samishsanthosh1) March 12, 2023

And on the same pitch Ashwin took 6 wickets.

— Indian (@IARP111) March 12, 2023