The SCG pitch for the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India, which was dominated by pace bowlers who gained lavish seam movement and some uneven bounce, has been rated "satisfactory" by the ICC match referee, and Cricket Australia has termed it a "step in the right direction" for surfaces at the venue.

The best Test series in years was played on the best pitches according to official ratings with even the spicy SCG deck Australia beat India in three days on getting the tick.

The SCG pitch has been criticized by former Indian cricketers Dilip Vengsarkar and Sunil Gavaskar. Vengsarkar called the pitch "substandard" and heavily biased toward pacers, making batting extremely difficult.

The remaining pitches at the four other venues of the just-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy have been rated 'very good'

India legend Sunil Gavaskar, now a provocative commentator, claimed if wickets fell at that rate in India, “there would be hell” with complaints about the state of the pitch. But the ICC ticked off the SCG pitch, giving it the second-highest rating.

Sydney: Four out of five pitches used in the recent Border-Gavaskar Test series between India and Australia have been rated 'very good' by the ICC, which found the track for the fifth and final game in Sydney to be 'satisfactory,