England legend Geoffrey Boycott while replying to a fan on his Twitter handle toned down the criticism of the pitch at Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera, Ahmedabad, and said that England had the first choice of the surface but India was better than the visitors.
In the conditions where spinner dominated batsmen, India won the third Test match by 10 wickets on Thursday, which lasted only two days.
Team India on account of Akshar Patel’s 6-wicket-haul bowled out England for just 112 runs in their first innings, in response to which hosts collapsed from 99/3 to 145 all out to take a 33-run first-innings lead.
However, Virat Kohli led side came out all guns blazing in the second innings as they bowled out the visitors for 81 runs before sauntering to their 49-run target without losing a wicket.
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 yet again invited criticism of the pitch conditions.
While replying to a query from a fan that stated “Any words for the pitch, Sir Geoff,” replying to which Geoffrey Boycott said that there is nothing in the rules that says what type of pitch should be prepared.
“There is nothing in the rules that says what type of pitch should be prepared. We had first choice of the surface and they were better than us. Simple,” Geoffrey Boycott Tweeted.
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.
India needs to win or draw the last Test match against England to play New Zealand in the final of the ICC World Test championship.
(India Tv inputs)
