The pitch didn’t produce drastic turns, neither did the bowlers manage to extract sharp bounce. Yet, the pink-ball Test between India and England at the Narendra Modi Stadium was over well inside two days. While there are those who believe such pitches aren’t good for cricket, let alone the longest format of the game, Rohit Sharma doesn’t feel it was the pitch because of which the match concluded in the first two days.
The Hitman added 66 and unbeaten 25 in the two innings to help India secure a 10-wicket win over England and go 2-1 up in the series. Speaking to media after the match, Rohit addressed the talks around the Motera pitch’s ‘demonic’ nature, suggesting it had no role to play in the match being wrapped-up so early.
“To be honest, on a pitch like that.. the pitch didn’t do anything. If I can recollect, most of the batsmen got out to straighter deliveries. Not just them, we, as a batting unit, made a lot of mistakes. We didn’t bat well in the first innings. The pitch had nothing as such, no such demons as we call. It was a nice pitch to bat on, once you’re in, you can score runs as well,” Rohit said during a virtual press conference.
“But again, you just need to apply and keep concentrating on a pitch like that. To score runs, you need more concentration on a pitch like that,” he added.
Sharing some batting tips on the surfaces like these, Rohit said blocking the deliveries isn’t going to work and rather an attacking approach needs to be taken on pitches like these to put runs on the board.
“When you are playing on a pitch like that, you need to have an intent and look to score runs as well. You can’t just keep blocking. As you saw that odd ball might just turn and odd ball might just skid onto stumps, when you play for turn,
“You just need to be slightly ahead at times and try to find ways to score runs. My intent was not just to survive but try and score runs as well, while respecting the good balls. That’s all I tried to do.”
With the win in Ahmedabad, India have strengthened their chances of qualification into the World Test Championship final but they still have one match to go in the series the result of which decide its fate.
