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Virat Kohli tells England to stop moaning as India would never blame pitch for defeat - is that really the case?
Virat Kohli has told England to stop moaning about the pitch after their crushing two-day defeat last week, with the Indian captain instead blaming the result on “a bizarre display of batting”.
The Ahmedabad pitch has come in for much criticism since England’s 10-wicket loss in the third Test, although the official pitch ratings are yet to be published.
With the fourth Test taking place at the same ground, the expectation is for similar conditions this week, but Kohli has rubbished concerns.
“There’s always too much noise and conversation around spinning tracks,” he said. “If you win a Test on day four or five, no-one says anything but if you win in two days everyone pounces on the same issue.
“The reason for our success as a team is we haven’t cribbed about any pitches we’ve played on. We lost in New Zealand on day three in 36 overs and none of our people wrote about the pitch. It was about how India played badly in New Zealand. None of the pitches were criticised, no one spoke about the ball moving, the grass.
“We need to be very honest with ourselves, what space we are talking from. What’s the idea behind continuing this narrative and what purpose does it serve to continue this one-sided conversation?”
England have suggested the pink ball used in the day/night Test skidded unpredictably but Kohli disagreed saying: “I don’t understand why a cricket ball or pitch are brought into focus. Why don’t we focus on the fact that the batsmen were just not skilled enough on that pitch to play properly.
“It was a bizarre display of batting by both teams. I will maintain that because I’ve played the game long enough. It’s not a change in ball colour. It’s still round and weights 5.5 ounces, I don’t know what difference it makes suddenly.
“If you just make a cricket ball or the pitch helping the bowlers the focus, you’re not really reading the game properly in my opinion.”
What a difference a few weeks make
Just a couple of weeks before the third Test, Kohli sang a rather different tune when England won the opening match of the series to consign India to a fourth successive defeat under his captaincy.
“The reality of the situation is that the pitch was very flat and slow,” he said, after England’s 227-run win. “I’m not saying that as an excuse and that we will hold on to as a team. But you have to understand the reality of what went on.
“That was the case in the first two days. Even day three when the wicket really started to change. Before that it was a really flat and slow pitch.
“When you get big runs on the board the opposition is inevitably put under pressure. You have to understand those are the dynamics of cricket and how the game moves forward and works.
“The quality of ball, too, was not something we were very pleased to see. That has been an issue in the past as well. The ball seemed to be destroyed in 60 overs and that is not something you experience as a Test side. That was the reality of the first two days.”
The fall guys
While Kohli was at pains to point out he was not using the ball or pitch as excuses for his side’s defeat, his comments carry considerable weight in India, and there were repercussions.
The SG ball manufacturers confirmed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had asked them to look into the matter after Kohli’s complaints and others from team-mate Ravi Ashwin.
The Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which oversees the sport in Chennai, also confirmed Taposh Chatterjee, the pitch curator for the first Test, was removed from his duties by the BCCI after the match.
Chatterjee was sent to prepare pitches elsewhere in the country, while duties for the second Test were suddenly allocated to novice curator V Ramesh Kumar.
Doesn’t Kohli have history here?
Rewind to the 2019 World Cup and Kohli was not so eager to hide his complaints after England had beaten his side by 31 runs at Edgbaston, with Jonny Bairstow and Jason Roy hitting 13 sixes in the home side’s total of 337 for seven after winning the toss.
Kohli said: “The toss was vital, especially since the boundary was that short - the shortest you can have. It is bizarre on a flat pitch. It is crazy things fall in place randomly.”
He added: “If batsmen are able to reverse sweep you for six on a 59-metre boundary there is not much you can do as a spinner. One side was 82 metres. They had to be a bit smart in the lines they bowled, but you can’t do much with a short boundary.”
