IND vs ENG | The pitch was completely fine according to me, insists Rohit Sharma
Rohit was the highest run-scorer for India
|BCCI
Rohit Sharma has opined that there were no demons on the wicket for the batsmen and it was a typical Indian wicket where the odd ball turned in. The Indian opener has further added that it was a good learning curve for the Indian batting unit as a whole on how to bat on such wickets.
India ended a complete annihilation in the third Test in Ahmedabad, with a 10-wicket victory that had domination written all over it. Even though India succumbed to a first-innings batting collapse, putting up just 145 runs, the second innings bowling by the spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin were as good as it got.
Rohit, who scored a half-century in the first innings and hit the winning runs in the second dig, stated that pink ball was travelling faster than the red cherry and India will have to do a bit of adjustment when they play the next Pink Ball Test.
“I think, to be honest, the Pink ball came to the bat a little faster than the normal red ball. In the evening. In the evening when the temperature goes down, maybe a degree or two plus the dew factor as well. All in all, the pace of the Pink ball is slightly quicker. It is something we need to adjust as quickly as possible and understand what we need to do whenever we play the Pink ball Test match in India,” Rohit said in the post-match press conference.
There was a lot of criticism for the wicket in Ahmedabad as it combinedly lasted less than six sessions and Indian batsmen, who are traditionally better players of spin bowling, couldn’t match to the standard. Rohit stated that it was more down to the poor application against the non-turning ones that called the shots and the pitch had no demons for batsmen.
“Honestly speaking, if you look at the entire 30 wickets that were fallen, batsmen didn’t apply the technique. From our side also as well as them. Some of the shots that we played were not upto the standards. And again, the pitch was completely fine. It was a typical Indian wicket where it would turn. The odd ball would come in.”
“We just made mistakes from our side in terms of understanding which shots to play from which side. We were confused whether we should play cut shots or not, play sweep or not. Those are the things we need to understand if you are playing on such pitches. In Chennai, every ball was turning from the rough, there was no rough here. This is good learning for us as a batting unit. When we play next, we will be very equipped to play on such tracks,” Rohit concluded.
The fourth and last match of the series will be played at the same venue, from March 4.
