IND vs ENG | Moaning and groaning about turning pitches has to stop, feels Viv Richards
Viv Richards has stated that 'moaning and groaning' about the turning pitches in India has to stop and the visitors should look to improve and overcome their challenges. The Windies legend further added that if you are traveling to India, you should be prepared for such kinds of wickets.
After losing the first Test in Chennai, effectively putting India's chances for the World Test Championship position in danger, the next two Test matches saw rank-turners being dished out, on which Indian spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel wrapped up England in no time. Following that, Chris Silverwood spoke about England's plans of lodging an official complaint regarding the nature of the wickets, but that baffled Sir Viv Richards, who said that the complaint attitude is not going to help England.
"I have been asked questions recently about the Test match that was played in India the second and third Test match against England. And I am a little confused about the question really because there seems to be a lot of moaning and groaning about the wicket that they were playing on," Richards said in a Facebook video.
"I just felt that the ones who are moaning, in my opinion, should realise that there are times that you're going to get a seaming track, a ball that is basically jumping off a good length and everyone thinks that's a problem for batters. There are times batters sometimes cope with that.
"But now you've seen the other side, and this is why I think it was given the name Test match cricket, because of the test of the mind and will and everything else that goes with it when you're competing. And the complaints have been that the wicket is spinning too much and all that sort of stuff. This is another side of the arc guys."
Even though India have resorted to flat wickets in the last few years, with the ball spinning in the latter half of the game, the nature of the wicket has always been on the turning side. Historically, it has been like that for years and Richards stated that it was always imperative that the wickets would behave the way it did.
"People seem to forget where they are playing, that if you're going to India, you should expect that. You are going to spin land. You should basically prepare yourself to know what you're going to encounter. I just believe all the moaning and groaning has got to stop and just not see the classical side of things in terms of the Indian armoury. And from where I'm sitting, it's good to see," he added.
With contrasting reports coming about what kind of strip will be on offer for the fourth Test, with India needing to avoid a loss to book a slot in the World Test Championship final, Richards called for a similar pitch in the fourth Test at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
"Rather than the moaning and groaning in my opinion, especially just recently how quickly that Test match was over, it gives England an opportunity and a chance to assess things, to believe that for some reason the wicket that they're going to encounter in the fourth Test is going to be the same. If I was India or I had anything to do with the preparations of the wicket, I would bring in very much the same," Richards said.
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