Sharing his two cents on the raging debate over the Ahmedabad pitch, speedster Jofra Archer on Tuesday (March 2) said there is not much to complain about the surface as matches finish quickly in England too.
See Also: Sir Vivian Richards slams England for “moaning and groaning” about the pitches
The pitch for the pink-ball Test between India and England came under the scanner after the game ended inside two days at the Narendra Modi Stadium, with the hosts winning it by 10 wickets.
England were bowled out for 112 and 81 across the two innings, while India scored 145 in the first essay before chasing a 49-run target without any hiccup.
“To me, it doesn’t matter what pitches we play on. There’s not much to complain about in life — apart from bad Wi-Fi, of course!
“The day-nighter I played against Glamorgan three years ago was over in five sessions and on the day I signed my first Sussex contract we beat Leicestershire inside two days, so matches finish quickly in England, too.
“Let’s be honest, we are in India and we have to expect the ball to spin. That’s fine. Although it doesn’t mean that batting is easy,” Jofra wrote in a column for the Daily Mail.
Archer also stated that skipper Joe Root encouraged his troops to adopt fearless approach as they wanted to go for a win to qualify for the World Test Championship final.
“In the first innings in Ahmedabad, it felt hard to get the ball away against their spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel.
“And so, ahead of the second innings, Joe Root encouraged us all to be fearless in our approach.
“He wanted us to realise we had nothing to lose and not to go into our shells, and he urged us to keep the same mentality for the rest of this series. Draws were no good to us in our quest to make the World Test Championship final, so it was important to be positive,” he said.
India’s victory in the third Test ensured that England get knocked out of the World Test Championship. Now, only India and Australia are contenders to book a place in the final.
The Virat Kohli-led side will have to avoid a loss in the last Test to secure a place in the WTC final against New Zealand.
Ahmedabad will also host the fourth and final Test, starting Thursday (March 4).
