AHMEDABAD – India skipper Virat Kohli on Wednesday fuelled controversy overspin pitches that have dominated the Test series against England, sayingcriticism was “unfair”.
“There is always too much noise and too much conversation about spinningtracks,” Kohli said on the eve of the fourth and final Test in Ahmedabad.
India lead the series 2-1 after a crushing two-day, 10-wicket win on aviciously turning pitch at the same stadium in the day-night third Testlast week.
Some pundits said the pitch was not up to standard and even England coachChris Silverwood said it had pushed England’s batsmen to “our extremes”.
Kohli called for balance in reporting on the state of the wicket.
He said that if the media presented “views which say that it is unfair tocriticise spinning tracks then I think it will be a balanced conversation.
“The unfortunate bit is that everyone sort of plays along that narrativeand just keeps making it news till the time it is relevant.”
Kohli insisted that when India lost a Test in New Zealand last year inthree days, “none of our people wrote about the pitch, it was all about howIndia played badly in New Zealand and none of the pitches were criticised”.
Spinners claimed 28 of the 30 wickets to fall in the third Test with thepink ball, used for day-night games, skidding off the surface.
Kohli insisted that the quick finish was due to “bizarre” batting by bothteams.
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“If you make a cricket ball helping the bowlers a focus, or the pitchhelping the bowlers a focus, you are not really reading the game properly,”said Kohli.
“It’s just the case of the wicket having more pace and bounce and I don’tthink the red ball is going to change that whatsoever.
“I still maintain the result in the last game was purely down to bizarrebatting.”
India need a win or a draw to book a clash with New Zealand in theinaugural World Test Championship final. A win for England would putAustralia into the decider at Lord’s in June.
But Kohli said Test final was “just a distraction”.
“If you want me to be brutally honest, it might work for teams who are notthat motivated to play Test cricket,” said Kohli.
“I think for teams like us it’s just a distraction when you start thinkingof the World Test Championship.” -APP/AFP
