Twitter fumes at the Chepauk pitch and the new curator.
Indian Cricket fans were left fuming with Chepauk's lifeless pitch as England batsman piled on the runs on a dead track that didn't offer any assistance to the Indian bowlers. England batsmen batted with utmost ease with Joe Root scoring a scintillating double hundred which took England to 454/4 at tea on day two.
Twitterati took their anger at pitch curator V Ramesh Kumar and urged the BCCI to make pitches that are conducive to Test cricket. Notably, V Ramesh Kumar is a new curator at Chepauk, as the MA Chidambaram Stadium is popularly known. Tamil Nadu Cricket Association (TNCA) had asked him to take charge as the curator for the first two Tests of the England series. It is interesting to note that he had never prepared a pitch for even a first-class match.
Ahead of the game, Ramesh had stated that it will be a typical Chepauk pitch but with an English look. Ramesh had also said that it will be a keen contest between bat and ball. However after five sessions of cricket, it looks very different from what was promised.
Here's what Twitterati had to say about the batsmen friendly Chennai pitch.
Joe Root continues his great run:
Joe Root made full use of the batting friendly conditions and became the first batsman in the history of Test cricket to score a double century in his 100th Test. Root, who expertly kept India's spinners at bay, extended his dream run that followed match-winning scores of 228 and 186 against Sri Lanka in Tests held in January 2021. This was also his fifth Test double centuries. He also became England's third-highest run-scorer in Tests during his innings, overtaking Alec Stewart's tally of 8,463. Root is now into 8,467 runs with only Graham Gooch (8,900) and Sir Alastair Cook (12,472) ahead of him.