Michael Vaughan backs Yuvraj Singh's controversial claim on India-England match's pitch

India flattened England by 10 wickets to go 2-1 up in the four-match series on Thursday, with the spinners taking all but one of the 20 opposition wickets. Left-arm spinner Axar Patel had a match haul of 11 for 70 while senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin took seven wickets to reach the milestone of 400 wickets as India wound up the match in less than 2 days.

However, several former players, including India's Harbhajan Singh, VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh, said that the spin-friendly pitch at the Narendra Modi stadium was not ideal for Test cricket. While praising the Indian bowlers for their efforts, Yuvraj Singh went on to say that his former teammates Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh would have got 1000 and 800 wickets in their carrier if they bowled on these kinds of wickets.

'Not sure if that's good for test cricket'

Replying to Yuvraj Singh, former England captain Michael Vaughan, who has been very vocal in criticising the Indian pitches, wrote, "Well said Yuvi."

"It is not an ideal pitch. India would also have been in trouble if England had scored 200 in their first innings. But it (the pitch) is the same for both sides," Harbhajan, one of the four members of the Indian 400 Test wicket club said.

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Meanwhile, several netizens felt that the former all-rounder was being "salty" to the current players and was undermining Axar and Ashwin's efforts.

'Ashwin and Axar were superb': Gavaskar

Also, Sunil Gavaskar credited Ashwin and Axar Patel for India's win rather than blaming the pitch. "It's more about the intent and application of the batsmen. It is a pitch where Rohit and Crawley hit half-centuries. England were thinking of how to survive and not how to score runs. You have to credit Axar Patel for the way he has used the odd ball that straightens. Ashwin and Axar were superb," PTI quoted Gavaskar as saying. 

Former England spinner Graeme Swann slammed the visitors for playing just one spinner in a Test match in India where pitches are generally spin-friendly. "You cannot come to India and play just one spinner in a Test match and get way on this wicket," he said.

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(With PTI inputs)