“Pitch Had No Demons”- Rohit Sharma Gave It Back To Critics For Blaming The Pitch: After the pink-ball test match was concluded in two days with team India emerging victorious by 10 wickets, the debate on the pitch came back to the focus. Several cricketers and experts took to their social media and expressed their concern about the pitch, where most of the batsmen from both teams looked completely lost against the spinners.
However, the Indian opener Rohit Sharma refused to blame the pitch for the pink-ball Test. Speaking at the post-match presentation after the match, Rohit claimed that the batsmen from both the teams were at fault and not the pitch. He also claimed that some of the shots were not up to the standards. He said:
“Honestly speaking, if you look at the 30 wickets that have fallen, I don’t see anything that the pitch did. The batsmen didn’t apply themselves. It is from our side also, not just them. As a batting unit, some of the shots we played were not up to the standards.”
Rohit further talked about the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium, he said that the pitch was nothing more than a typical Indian wicket. He said:
“The pitch was completely fine. It seems a very normal pitch to me. It is a typical Indian wicket where the ball turns, the odd ball might just come in, that is what an Indian wicket is all about.”
He added:
“We need to understand which shots we need to play – whether to play cut shot or not, whether to go over the top or not, whether to sweep or not. Those are things you need to understand when you are playing on a pitch like that.”
Rohit further pointed out there was the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium was no rough, unlike the Chennai surface. He said:
“In Chennai, every ball was turning from the rough. There was no rough here. Axar (Patel) got most of his wickets with the ball skidding on to the stumps and the batsmen missed the line. That’s all that happened. Pretty simple. We did the same thing. Some of the shots we played were not up to the skills that we have. We haven’t played spin so much with the pink ball. It was a good learning for us as a batting unit. When we play next, I think we will be very well equipped to handle that.”
Talking about the match, the Indian cricket team has taken a lead of 2-1 in the ongoing 4-match Test series against England. And with one test match remaining, it will be interesting to see who will win the last game.
