India vs England 4th Test – Virat Kohli angry on ‘unnecessary pitch-talk’: Taking a swipe at England, detractors and critics alike, Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli said there was too much noise about spinning pitch which was an unfair criticism, adding the reason for Team India’s success was refraining from cribbing all the time and it was important to win a test match and not play to entertain for five days.
“Do we play for a win or to entertain the critics for a five day Test match? Our prime focus is to win the Test and we don’t pay much attention for the duration of the gameWe have success everywhere. The reason for this is that we never crib about anything. We don’t crib about conditions, We don’t crib about pitches or the colour of the ball. I think there has been too much noise and too much unfair criticism by a section of people. Why so much criticism if the game finishes in 2 days. We also got out in New Zealand in 2 days. Then there was no criticism. Why now? I won’t answer the question about what is sporty wicket and I would like such a question to be posed in England and Australia tour. spinning track always given a negative treatment. Its one sided” Virat Kohli told this during the media conference from Ahmedabad.
On Tuesday, India’s vice-captain, Ajinkya Rahane echoed Kohli’s remarks on the pitch. While the 4th Test will be played at a different Motera track, it will not be very different than the last one. The only factor that would not absent is the pink ball, which helped Axar Patel bag 11 wickets in the match.
“The wicket would be similar to the third Test and also the second Test what we played in Chennai. The wicket would be similar, yes the pink ball made the difference, it was coming much quicker off the wicket as compared to the red ball. That was an adjustment we had to make but as I said the wicket would be a lot similar to the last two Test matches,” Rahane said during a media conference from Ahmedabad.
PITCH Controvery: BCCI Chief Pitch Curator says, ‘what is a problem with rank turners’
While there has been a lot of controversies regarding the pitches in the India-England Test series, especially after the 3rd Test ended in just two days, Daljit Singh, former BCCI chief pitch curator, said he ‘doesn’t see a problem in rank turners’. When India tours England, Australia or New Zealand, Indian batsmen are to play on green top and nobody complains.
However, former Indian left-arm spinner, Maninder Singh disagreed and sided with other cricketers who voiced their displeasure about the wickets. Maninder said India have enough bowling quality to avoid such turning tracks.
“My advice to the curator of Ahmedabad pitch is please do not prepare a wicket like this which finishes the game in less than one and a half days. This is a very bad advertisement for Test Cricket. I need not say anything more. People have seen it all. 30 wickets falling in just 7 hours? This was anything but normal,” he said.
“I believe Indian bowlers can win matches on good and sporting wickets and there is no need to prepare such minefields,” Maninder told InsideSports.co in an exclusive interview on Monday.
The rank-turners do help India but not always. In the first Test against England in Chennai, India lost the match by 227 runs with the visitors’ skipper Joe Root, commanding bowlers. In that match, spinners — from both teams — scalped 24 wickets out of a possible 30.
But with the 4th Test to be played in traditional red cherry, the batsman will not face a similar nightmarish situation as in the last Test in Ahmedabad.