The International Cricket Council announced on Monday that Jamtha Stadium, Nagpur, has been given an official warning under the ICC Pitch Monitoring Process following the third Test between India and South Africa.

The sanction took into consideration the fact that no concerns were raised about the performance of the pitch after any of the other international matches played at the venue.

In reaching the verdict, the ICC agreed with the "poor" rating given to the pitch by Jeff Crowe, the match referee for the Nagpur Test, played from November 25-27, who observed that the pitch did not allow a fair contest between bat and the ball.

The finding was made by ICC General Manager -- Cricket, Geoff Allardice, and ICC chief match referee Ranjan Madugalle after watching footage of the match, reviewing the post-match reports from Mr Crowe, and considering the response provided by the BCCI.

The pitch saw ample turn from the very first day of the Test, which India won by 124 runs.

India scored 215 and 173, and South Africa 79 and 185.

The pitch received flak from former cricketers, including Australia's Matthew Hayden and England's Michael Vaughan.

Former India spin great Bishan Singh Bedi was very critical of it and asked the South Africans to lodge a complaint with the ICC.

"'Challenging wkt' my foot!Guy made similar pitches fr Railways in Delhi & the venue lost 1st class status!Official complaint 2 ICC on cards!," he said.

However, India captain Virat Kohli and Team Director Ravi Shastri strongly defended the pitch, saying there was nothing wrong with it.