Former cricketer Deep Dasgupta feels batsmen from both India and England will have to be mentally ready to face spinners on the turning pitch in Ahmedabad when they take the field for the fourth and final Test on Thursday.
The pitches in Chennai and Ahmedabad have been under the scanner ever since the series began. Former England captains Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have been highly critical of the turning tracks, especially the one in the previous Test which ended inside 2 days with India winning by 10 wickets.
But Dasgupta says a lot has been spoken about the pitches and it is time for everybody to move on and look ahead to the next Test at the Narendra Modi stadium which is expected to dish out another turning surface in the series-finale.
"Enough is enough, let's move on. We have had enough discussions about the pitch. We are giving Michael Vaughan too much space in the media. Let's move on, we all know what his views are, we all know the others' views are. We have a very important Test match to look forward to. Let's just accept how things are going to be, you expect pitches to turn in India let's just take that as a fact.
"Let's just see how players adapt to it, that's the beauty of Test cricket. If you want flat pitches, we've got white-ball cricket. Test cricket is about testing your abilities, your skill set in various different conditions. That's how it is. If you don't like it, too bad then Test cricket is not for you," Dasgupta said on Sports Today.
"BEN MENTALLY STRONG"
Dasgupta also urged the batsmen to be mentally ready to face another trial by spin at Motera from March 4.
"It's more of a mental thing than skill. You're expected to have a certain amount of skill when you are playing at this level. But the biggest challenge would be to be mentally ready for what they've had in the last few Tests. Be mentally strong enough and be fearless about what the situations are going to be from tomorrow onwards. Clarity of thought is also very important because you can overcomplicate things by thinking about all this.
"You can have all the gameplans against the bowlers but how the players react when that first ball turns is the key. Are you still calm enough to hold on to your gameplay or you suddenly panic again? I think it's more of a mental challenge than anything else," Dasgupta said.