Ravi Shastri wishes Delhi pitch to be same as Nagpur
India team director Ravi Shastri has come down heavily on the critics of Nagpur pitch and said that the art of collecting runs is on a decline because of one-day style game, reports ESPNcricinfo. He also opined that he wishes fourth Test match pitch in Delhi is same as Nagpur.
Cricket fraternity from all across the world took to Twitter and other social media platforms to show their anger on the Nagpur pitch as South Africa registered their lowest score in a Test innings while playing against India as they were bowled out of paltry 79 runs.
India and South Africa were both bowled out on Day 2 of the 3rd Test, leaving South Africa 278 runs to win with 8 wickets remaining. The visitors failed to chase the target and were all out on 184 runs.
Nagpur’s rank-turner was mainly accused because the Indian spinners dominated the game in both innings as the Proteas batting line-up fell like a pack of cards.
"Nothing wrong with it [pitches produced for the Test series]," Shastri said. "I would hope the one in Delhi is absolutely the same. I have no qualms about it. It just goes to show that with the amount of one-day cricket being played, the tendency to graft, the tendency to spend long hours at the crease is diminishing.
“It's only when you play on tracks like this that you realise that you got to spend time at the crease. And when you saw Hashim and Faf batting yesterday, you thought there was nothing in the pitch.
“It just goes to show there was an era earlier who would play on these pitches and people would get hundreds. Because they were prepared to go through the grind."
South Africa’s captain, Hashim Amla said in the after match conference that Nagpur’s pitch was toughest of his career. He added to it that the visitors could have been bowled for less than 100 runs in the second innings but luck favoured them a bit there.
Shastri countered Amla’s comments by saying that batsmen from both the sides could have performed much better if little more application was applied to the batting. He added that a century on Nagpur’s track was possible and Murali Vijay should have scored because of the way he was playing on the opening day of Test.
"I think if someone had applied himself he would have got 80-odd, 90-odd, even a hundred," Shastri said. "The way [Murali] Vijay was playing he would have got a hundred.
"[The pitch was] absolutely not [a problem]. It's on both sides. Par for the course on this wicket was 275 or 250, which was more than enough. If you get up and reach there [to the pitch of the ball] and there is a surface like that you can play on it. You have to stop cribbing and get on with the job at hand.
"For example, Bangalore was a fantastic track. I'm disappointed we are not 3-0 up. On a good track we bowled out South Africa and we were 80 for no loss. We really had a chance to dominate the next four days. People won't talk about that."
He opposed the fact that Nagpur’s pitch came under scrutiny because of the low bounce from the first of the Test and said: "Where was inconsistent bounce? It was fine. It was only later on by the end of the second or the third day when the ball started keeping low. And you tell me which batsman got out to a ball that kept low barring a tailender that Mishra [got] in the second innings? [On du Plessis' dismissal in the second innings] What a shot that was. In those circumstances that shot you avoid."
The Australians, English and many others were calling Nagpur pitch ‘cruel’ and ‘horrible’ and Twitter was buzzing the whole day by their tweets as everyone saw the World number Test team batting line-up failing to put any resistance against the Indian spinners.
Shastri added their is nothing wrong with the five days matches getting over in three days, in fact he even compared the Nagpur Test with the Australia-New Zealand Perth Test.
"How many wickets went in Adelaide [between Australia and New Zealand] yesterday? 12, no? So?" he said. "Nothing wrong with that [matches finishing inside three days]. It [Nagpur] was a Test match that was moving all the time. You compare this Test to the Test match in Perth, I would pay money for a ticket for this game, yaar. To hell with the five days. You go and sit for the last two days there."
He supported captain Virat Kohli and Ashwin’s comments saying that India had never complained in their overseas tours.
"When we go overseas we don't have any choices. Why would you complain? I don't see anyone complaining, it's only some of them who have never played the game who are complaining.
"Let them [former Australian cricketers] sit in Australia and talk about their pitches. Tell them not to waste their time about Indian tracks. Come and play here," he concluded.
The final Test of the four-match series will start from December 3rd and will be played at the Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium in Delhi. India have taken an unassailable lead of 2-0 in the series and now South Africa will be playing for pride in the fourth Test.