Rohit Sharma’s batting in both innings showed you could score runs on this pitch: Sunil Gavaskar

India managed to script a massive victory over the visiting England team by a whopping 10 wickets in the third Test of the four-match series at the newly-built Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium. The fact that the pink-ball Test match ended within two days and the bowlers ruled the show didn’t go well with many former veteran cricketers and cricket pundits as they labelled the pitch as a ‘poor surface’.

Ever since the match concluded, the pitch in Ahmedabad has been the focal point of discussion among the cricket fraternity with many England supporters criticising India and accusing the host nation of curating the surface to benefit the home team. Some even called out to the International Cricket Council (ICC) to take action against India.

However, the Indian cricket body is unlikely to object as it is learned that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will be preparing a ‘batting delight’ for the last Test. Meanwhile, former Indian skipper and full-time pundit Sunil Gavaskar also weighed in on the Ahmedabad pitch debate saying that one should not undermine the efforts of the home team as there was nothing alarming about the pitch.

The veteran admitted that the pitch assisted spin but argued that the Test batsmen should be able to deal with the turn off straight deliveries. Gavaskar believes that more than the pitch, there was a lack of intent from batsmen and they had invited their own downfall.

More than the pitch, it was about the mindset: Sunil Gavaskar

“It was not a pitch where the ball was misbehaving constantly. Nothing was kicking up alarmingly. Neither was there any great invariable bounce that the ball would shoot. Here, the bounce was actually true, almost.

“Yes, there was spin but Test match batsmen should be able to handle the turn or the straighter ones. Challenging, but not treacherously challenging. If you look at the dismissals, the batsmen have contributed to their own downfall,” Gavaskar said as quoted by Times Now.

Further, the former skipper lauded Rohit Sharma for playing a remarkable knock of 66 runs in the first innings followed by an unbeaten 25. Gavaskar said that Rohit’s innings showed that more than the pitch, it was about the mindset of the players.

“More than the pitch, it was about the mindset which did them in. Rohit Sharma’s batting in both innings showed you could score runs on this pitch,” Gavaskar concluded.