Pragyan Ojha Gave It Back To Critics For Questioning Motera Pitch: The much-awaited Pink-ball Test match wrapped-up within two days at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, which has led to widespread criticism of the pitch presented to both teams. Both India and England failed to cross the 150-run mark with the England cricket team bowled out for 112 and 81 runs in the first and second innings respectively.
Ever since the match came to an end yesterday, several cricketers and experts have shared their views on the pitch. The likes of Sunil Gavaskar, Kevin Pietersen, Michael Vaughan, Alastair Cook, Yuvraj Singh, Rohit Sharma, England’s skipper Joe Root and Indian skipper Virat Kohli gave their opinions on the surface in the pink-ball Test match.
While there are many who have refused to blame the pitch, on the other hand, there are many who are blaming the pitch and are questioning the management for the same. However, former Indian off-spinner Pragyan Ojha, slammed the critics questioning the surface and raised a valid point.
Talking to Sports Today, Pragyan Ojha slammed the critics for not giving due credits to the spinners for their amazing performances. He said:
“It was a competitive wicket, batsmen could have done better but whenever spinners do well why this question, why not when seamers get those wickets. Why not when a batsman gets a 400 or 300. Everybody starts talking about ‘it’s a world record’, they start talking about ‘oh the bowlers swung the ball so well’. When spinners start turning the ball, everybody is like ‘what’s happening with the wicket’.”
He added:
“Yes, it was not the finish which we wanted but we also have to talk about the batsmen, they should have applied themselves and they should get used to different kinds of conditions.”
Earlier, Indian skipper Virat Kohli had refused to blame the surface at the Narendra Modi Stadium and had said it was a good pitch to bat on. He had said:
“[It was] a very good pitch to bat on – especially in the first innings – and it felt like the ball was coming on nicely with the odd-ball turning. It was just, I would say, below-par batting from both teams. Our bowlers were much more effective and that’s why we got the result.”
