Former Indian cricketer Gautam Gambhir became the latest to criticise the pitches prepared for the first three Tests of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia.
Gambhir said that playing on turning tracks is fine, but finishing matches in two and a half days is not the best advertisement for Test cricket. While many have been criticising the Indian batters for their struggle on the turning pitches, Gambhir feels they are best at playing spin bowling.
Speaking to Sports Today, Gautam Gambhir said: “I feel, yes, playing on turning tracks is fine, but I won't appreciate Test matches finishing in 2.5 days. We want to see tight finishes, like the one we saw in the New Zealand vs England Test. (If a Test goes to) 4th or 5th day, it is fine. But 2.5 days is too short.”
The former opener added, “I don't think so. People like (Cheteshwar) Pujara, (Virat) Kohli, Rohit Sharma are good players of spin bowling. If they weren't, they won't have played in 100 Tests. You have to be very good player of spin and fast bowling to reach that mark. One thing that has changed is that the DRS has played a massive role.”
Gambhir also said that batters have had to change techniques as to when there was no DRS and lbw on the front foot in Test cricket. He signed off by saying, “When there was no DRS and no LBW on the front foot, a lot of times you had to change your technique as well. People don't talk about that too much.”
