Whilst the talk around the Indian cricket team has heavily centred around the lack of warm-up matches before the tough Test series against England, head coach Ravi Shastri has made it clear that the pitch is also not a concern for his team.
On their last tour which was in South Africa, India faced difficulties to begin with in the Test series, but Shastri’s team turned things around in the final match which they won. The coach went onto point out that the Johannesburg match was played on an uneven surface and even though play had to be stopped for a while due to concerns regarding the players’ safety his team did not create any fuss about it.
The questions raised around matters related to the pitch rose from the fact that there were reports in the media that said the four-day match vs Essex was reduced to a three-day after India had taken a look at the pitch and the outfield.
Shastri who believes there is no merit in that report said, “There was no complaint from the Indian management about anything. On this entire trip, you will never see an Indian team giving excuses with regards to conditions or the pitch.”
Shastri in fact reportedly told the curator to not make any changes to the playing surface for the game against Essex. “The pitch? It is good. The grounds man asked me there was enough grass on, do you want the grass to be taken off? I said absolutely not. It is your prerogative. What you give us, we play. I said leave it. There was grass there, so don’t take anything off.”
“Our challenge is to beat the opposition. We take pride in performing wherever we go. We want to be the best travelling side in the word. So the last person who will make a complaint will be this Indian team.”
The former India captain said his policy was to not interfere and that he expects the same courtesy in return from sides who tour India. "My philosophy is very simple - (in) your country, I don't ask questions (about the pitch). You don’t ask questions when you come to my country”
Speaking further on the decision to reduce the match against Essex to a three-day affair, Shastri said, “It was because of the logistics and the (conditions) that were prevailing. We had an opportunity to practise three days in Birmingham, which is the Test match venue. If we had played four days here, we would have lost that one day because of travel."
“The prerogative whether to play a two-day game, three-day game, four-day game, lies entirely with the visiting team so it was decided yesterday. We were ready to even play a two-day game and use that one day (third) for a full day of practice here, the centre pitch. But when they explained about the tickets we said fine well play a three-day game. And travel on Saturday to be able to practice on Sunday,” the coach signed off.
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