"Don't think ICC would mind India making rank turners" - Virat Kohli's childhood coach
Former Delhi cricketer and Virat Kohli's childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, opined that India are well within their rights to dish out rank turners if they want to for the Test series against Australia beginning in February next year.
There was a lot of talk about how 'unfair' the pitches were during the home series against England last year, especially for the second Test in Ahmedabad which ended within two days. However, Australia recently beat South Africa at the Gabba within two days on a pitch deemed too green by many.
Speaking to India News, here's what Rajkumar Sharma had to say about the pitches for the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy:
"Unless the pitches enter the 'dangerous' category where the players can get injured, I don't think ICC would mind India making rank turners. If there are no neutral curators, it's but natural that home teams will take advantage and prepare pitches according to their team's strengths. So there's nothing wrong if we prepare turners against Australia."
Australia will be wary of rank turners in India: Rajkumar Sharma
Rajkumar feels Australia will know that they might have to play the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy on pitches similar to what England got last year. However, he also believes that batters like David Warner, Steve Smith, and others will be better prepared because of their experience playing in the IPL.
On this, he stated:
"Australia will be wary that we will prepare rank turners and they will come prepared. Their batters have played in these conditions and have an idea of how to tackle their spinners. They also have Nathan Lyon and a couple of other quality options so that could certainly be a stern test for India. We can't take Australia lightly. "
When a Test match ends in 2 days in Australia, it's because the lively pitch had lots to offer to the brilliant bowlers.
When a Test match ends in 2 days in India, it's because the rank-turner dustbowl was not fit for international cricket.
Rohit Sharma and co. need to win at least four of their remaining five Tests in the cycle to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. However, Rajkumar is confident that the team will get the job done. He added:
"Just like Australia won the game in two days, even we can beat them in two days by preparing a pitch that favours our bowlers. That's when they will understand how it feels when a home team takes advantage. South Africa's loss has certainly helped India climb up in the table and I am convinced that we will win at least four out of five Tests to make it to the final."
The visitors will play their second Test against Bangladesh in Dhaka from Thursday and will look to take 12 more WTC points.