Veteran Indian off-spinner R Ashwin has echoed the views of legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar regarding the critics of Indian pitches in the recent four-match Test series against England, saying there is no need to encourage them to make a mockery of cricket by giving them attention.
Ever since England suffered a heavy defeat of 317 runs at the hands of India in the second Test in Chennai to make a terrific comeback in the four-match Test series, former England cricketers like Michael Vaughan and Andrew Strauss have been criticizing the Indian pitches.
Following the defeat, England didn’t make comeback in the Test series, as they lost the three Test matches in a row – third by 10 wickets and final by an innings and 25 runs to lose the series to India 3-1 on Saturday (March 6) at Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
Amid the raging debates over the pitches used in the recent Test series in India, Ashwin said the series win 3-1 is a testament to the quality of the current Indian team and Indians are “encouraging the critics to do more and more stuff” by giving attention to their opinions.
Ashwin told ANI, “This series win is a testament to the fact that this is a very good Indian cricket team that is all I would like to say. The criticism around the pitch, all that, the other day, Sunny (Sunil Gavaskar) sir was saying something that makes complete sense.”
The spinner continued, “Only because you are giving attention to people who are making a mockery of cricket, I think we are encouraging them to do more and more stuff.”
He signed off by saying, “I would like to see one day when there is a lot of grass on the pitch somewhere else in the world, our Indian commentators talking about it and then putting an Instagram post, I would like to see that and how the global media reacts to that, then we will know, who is at fault.”
