Former England cricketer Graeme Swann while reflecting on the criticism of the pitch at Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad said that when India tour England, they play on green seaming decks and don't complain about it instead they try and improve.
The third Test match between India and England, which also was pink-ball Test, ended in less than two days. In the conditions where spinners dominated batsmen, India beat England by ten wickets to take a 2-1 series lead.
Out of the 30 wickets, 28 were taken by the spinners and both the teams failed to cross the 150-run mark in their innings which brought the pitch under scrutiny again as the spinners make hay.
While inferring the criticism of the pitch at Motera stadium, former English cricketer Graeme Swann said that he knows that there would be a lot of talks about pitch in England but pitch was same for both the teams.
"Well, I hope it's a very honest conversation (in the England dressing room after the loss) and what they have to get away from, if they are, is to talk about the pitch. I know there is a lot of talk back in England, a lot of people saying 'oh the pitch this, the pitch that'. The pitch is the same for both teams,” Graeme Swann told Star sports.
Swann said that Indian bowlers were better than English bowlers and added that visitors will get similar wicket in the next Test match so they have to better and cannot afford to hide behind accusations that pitch is turning.
"England played well for half of this game, with the ball, but India just bowled better in the second innings. They are going to get a very similar wicket to play on next week.
“There are no two ways about it, England have to be better. They cannot afford to make the same mistakes. They cannot afford to hide behind accusations that the pitch is turning too much. It's nonsense," he said.
Graeme Swann further said that when India tour England they don’t complaint about the pitch instead they try and improve and added that England will have to work hard to counter the likes of R Ashwin and Akshar Patel.
"When India come to England, they play on green seaming decks and India don't complain about it, they try and improve. Virat Kohli worked his socks off to make sure his game could cope with Jimmy Anderson on a nibbling wicket. England will have to work their socks off to cope with Ashwin and more importantly Akshar Patel," he concluded.
With a comprehensive 10-wicket win in the third Test match at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Team India knocked England out of the race to qualify for the ICC World Test Championship final.
Team needs to win or draw the last Test match against England to play New Zealand in the final of the ICC World Test championship.
(Starsports Inputs)
