Ahead of the day-night Test against England, the veteran Indian opener, Rohit Sharma came hard on the critics of the Test pitches in India saying such pitches have been prepared in the country for many years now and he doesn’t think there needs to any changes in that approach. The Indian opener, who scored a brilliant century at a challenging Chennai surface in the second Test against England, said that India is completely within their rights to take the home advantage and prepare the pitches to suit their strengths.
In a video tweeted by the BCCI, Rohit Sharma said, “Pitch remains the same for both teams, I don’t know why this discussion happens so much. Pitches in India are being prepared in the same manner for many years now. I don’t think there have been any changes in that regard or there should be any changes.”
Here is the video of the same:
🗣️🗣️ Every team has the right to home advantage, reckons @ImRo45. @Paytm #INDvENG #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ZbF7ufj01M
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 21, 2021
Many former cricketers, including Michael Vaughan and Mark Waugh, immensely criticized the Chepauk pitch for the second Test describing it as not good enough for five-day cricket. Expressing his opinion, Rohit said every team in the world makes most of their home conditions by preparing pitches on which the hosts are comfortable playing and there shouldn’t be any debate if the Indian team does the same.
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Rohit explained, “Every team makes full use of their home advantage. When we go out, the same happens there as well, they don’t think about us. So, why should we think about anyone. What we like and what is our team’s preference, we should do that… this is what home or away advantage is all about.
He further added, “Otherwise, take out the home and away advantage away and play cricket without it. Tell ICC to make a rule, setting identical norms for pitches in India and outside.”
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Rohit Sharma was also of the opinion that he couldn’t understand why there was so much debate about the pitches in India when other countries also do the same and make “life difficult” whenever Team India travel to the other countries. He also said that instead of talking about the pitches, it’s better if the discussions revolve around players’ performances.
