Former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar became the latest cricketer to criticize the pitch used for the recent day-night Test between India and England at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, saying it was a “substandard wicket and such pitches are a bad advertisement for Test cricket”.
His comments came after the pink ball Test finished within two days in Ahmedabad on Thursday (February 25) with both teams failing to cross 150 and saw 30 wickets falling during the course of two days.
India thrashed England by 10-wickets in the third Test which saw just 842 deliveries bowled at the Narendra Modi Stadium, which was the shortest Test match in the last 85 years – since the Test played between England and West Indies in 1934-35.
Vengsarkar told Times of India: “There’s no doubt that it was a substandard wicket. These kinds of wickets are a bad advertisement for Test match cricket. People pay and come to watch good quality cricket. Both teams had excellent players to watch.”
He further added, “When you watch great batsmen like Joe Root become great bowlers (the England captain took 5/8 with his part-time off-spin), there is something seriously wrong in the wicket.”
Meanwhile, the former India chief selector questioned the defensive technique of the English batsmen as the tourists got bundled out for just 112 and 81 in both innings on the turning track in the pink ball Test against India with R Ashwin and Akshar Patel taking 7 and 11 wickets respectively.
Vengsarkar further pointed out, “England didn’t have the skills and the will to fight. Most of them got out to the ball going straight, which wasn’t turning. Their defensive technique was below par, really poor. They had no clue how to play on such wickets.”
He signed off by saying, “They were all at sea, and had no clue whether to go on the back foot or front foot. It seemed some of the top-order England batsmen got themselves out mentally even before they took the guard.”
