Left-arm spinner Akshar Patel on Monday (February 15) weighed in on the raging debate over the Chepauk pitch for the second Test between India and England.
According to Akshar, who is featuring in his debut Test against England in Chennai, critics of spinner-friendly tracks need to change their mindset as Team India have never complained about countering seamer-friendly green tops overseas.
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A number of former cricketers from England and Australia, including Michael Vaughan and Mark Waugh, have termed Chepauk pitch as "under-prepared" but India managed to post 600+ runs on the same strip across the two innings.
"If you are talking about pitch, I don't think any ball hit the helmet. There is normal spin on offer. We are playing on same track and scoring runs, so I don't think anyone should have any problems and feel that wicket is like this or that and so on and so forth," Akshar said in the virtual press conference.
"Also when we go overseas, we never complained while playing on seaming track and complained that there is more grass on the wicket. I think people need to change their mindset rather than thinking about the wicket," he added.
As per Akshar Patel, one needs to hit the deck hard in order to exploit the turn on offer on this Chepauk strip.
"On this wicket, there is help for spinners so you don't need to do anything extra," he said.
"When you are putting a bit more effort and body into the ball, then you are getting the ball to spin. When you are hitting the deck hard, then only you are getting the ball to turn.
"If you are releasing it slowly, there is not much help for the slow bowlers. So hitting the deck with a decent speed is important and that's creating difficulty for batsmen. If you bowl slow, then batsman are moving to back foot and adjusting," he explained.
Team India scored 286 runs in their second essay after ensuring a massive 195-run lead in the first innings. R Ashwin was the top-scorer with 106, while skipper Virat Kohli made 62.
When asked if India’s batting performance was a statement, Akshar replied: "When we play, we don't think that outside world matters to us and we would like to give a message. We played normal cricket. If it was fourth day, we would have thought about declaring but it was third day and we had enough time. We thought we have to bat long."
Chasing 482 in the fourth innings, England were tottering at 53/3 at stumps on Day 3.
(With PTI inputs)
