A two-day Test is bound to generate a lot of question marks. The same is happening with the India vs South Africa second Test that ended in less than five sessions on Thursday. As many as 23 wickets tumbled on day one with the hosts being bowled out for 55 and the visitors for 153 before India lost three more wickets in their second innings. In the second session of the second day, India completed the task in 12 overs. Only 107 overs were bowled – making it the shortest Test match ever.
While not directly criticising the pitch, Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma had a lot to say on the people criticising the Indian pitches, who complain about the spin tracks.
“We all saw what happened in this Test match and how the pitch played. I honestly don’t mind playing on pitches like these. As long as everyone keeps their mouth shut and don’t talk too much about Indian pitches,” Rohit Sharma said.
“Because you come here to challenge yourself. Yes, it is dangerous. It is challenging. So, and when people come to India, it is again pretty challenging as well. Look, when you are here to play Test cricket, we talk about Test cricket, the ultimate prize, Test cricket being the pinnacle and stuff like that. I think it’s important that we also stand by it.”
Rohit also spoke against people who often condemn Indian picthes as dust bowls.
“When you are put up against, a challenge like that, you come and face it. That’s what happens in India, but, in India on day one, if the pitch starts turning, people start talking about ‘Puff of dust! Puff of dust!’ There’s so much crack here on the pitch. People are not looking at that,” Rohit said.
“I think it’s important that we stay neutral everywhere we go. Especially the match referees. You know, some of these match referees need to keep their eye on how they rate pitches. It’s quite important. I still can’t believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the ICC, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that’s quite important.
“So I hope they keep their ears open, they keep their eyes open and look into those aspects of the game. Honestly, I’m all for pitches like this. We want to challenge playing on pitches like this. We pride ourselves playing on pitches like this. Uh, but all I wanna say is be neutral.”
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