Ahead of the day-night Test match against England, Rohit Sharma gave it back to those criticizing the Test pitches in India. During the previous game, many former cricketers, including the likes of Mark Wagh and Michael Vaughan had criticized the Chepauk pitch, describing it as not good enough for 5-day cricket.
The Indian opener, who scored a stunning hundred batting on the challenging pitch in the second Test against England, came hard at those criticizing the Test pitches as he claimed that India is completely within their rights to make most of the home advantage. He said:
“Pitch remains same for both teams, I don’t know why this discussion happens so much. Pitches in India are being prepared in the same manner for many years now. I don’t think there have been any changes in that regard or there should be any changes,”
Here, watch the video:
?️?️ Every team has the right to home advantage, reckons @ImRo45. @Paytm #INDvENG #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ZbF7ufj01M
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 21, 2021
Expressing his opinion on the matter, Rohit said that every team in the world makes full use of their home conditions and there shouldn’t be any debate if Indian team does the same. He said:
“Every team makes full use of their home advantage. When we go out, the same happens there as well, they don’t think about us. So, why should we think about anyone. What we like and what is our team’s preference, we should do that… this is what home or away advantage is all about. Otherwise, take out the home and away advantage away and play cricket without it. Tell ICC to make a rule, setting identical norms for pitches in India and outside,”
He concluded:
“But when we travel overseas, they also make life difficult for us. So, I don’t think we should discuss much about the pitches and instead talk about the game and players. Discussion about how a player is batting or how a bowler is bowling are completely fine but not pitches because conditions remain same for both teams and whoever plays the best will win,”
