Former India captain and batting legend Sunil Gavaskar has hit back at the critics questioning the quality of the pitch in the ongoing second Test between India and England in Chennai. Several former cricketers including former England Michael Vaughan have raised questions over the Chepauk track which has significantly assisted the spinners.
While India rode on Rohit Sharma’s stunning 161-run knock to post a good total of 329 runs on the board in their first innings, England batsmen looked clueless against the Indian spin attack. England were bundled out for a paltry 134 as local hero R Ashwin ran riot with the red cherry to register his 29th five-wicket haul in Tests.
Talking about the complaints over the Chennai pitch, Gavaskar said Indian pitches are always brought under the scanner despite the fact that tracks in England are always seaming ones prepared to assist the fast bowlers of the home team.
“We saw how Rohit Sharma getting 150, and yesterday he was getting close to ball and batting. This criticism (on pitch) is pretty warranted,” Gavaskar said on Star Sports.
“Some of them are saying that – but you have a seeming pitch in England. Australia get dismissed for 46 – the ball keeps seeming all throughout. No one talks about that. It’s always about Indian pitches, and when the ball starts to turn, people pose a problem,” he added.
Gavaskar stated the pitch was not unplayable but a difficult one as Rohit, Ajinkya Rahane, who slammed a fine 67, and Rishabh Pant, who scored an unbeaten 58 in the first innings, showed how to bat on the rank turner. Gavaskar also mentioned how people were complaining about the same pitch assisting the batsmen during the first Test which India lost by 227 runs but now bowlers getting help is also being complained about.
“Some of them are saying that – but you have a seeming pitch in England. Australia get dismissed for 46 – the ball keeps seeming all throughout. No one talks about that. It’s always about Indian pitches, and when the ball starts to turn, people pose a problem,” Gavaskar said.
“It’s not unplayable. It’s a challenging pitch, and that’s what cricket should be about. In the first Test, on the first two days, when nothing was happening, people were saying ‘it’s boring, nothing is happening. It’s so easy to bat.’ So, there has to be a bit of balance between what is said. You cannot be complaining all the time,” the former India captain added.
