Pakistan attacks India's win over England; Imran Khan's PTI endorses Vaughan's pitch jibe

In what can be described as a new low in the storied India-Pakistan on-field rivalry, Pak PM Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party retweeted former England cricketer Michael Vaughan's tweet taking a sly dig at pitches in India. Vaughan shared an image of a stadium in Pakistan thereby reigniting the kerfuffle over the Chepauk surface. Sharing the image on Twitter, Vaughan remarked that the scenic ground looked 'stunning' and added 'looks a lovely prepared pitch as well'. Vaughan, who has been at the forefront of the criticism against the Chepauk pitch, was shut down by England skipper Joe Root himself, who pointed out that the pitch had no part to play in their defeat in the second Test. Vaughan's tweet was retweeted by the official handle of Imran Khan's PTI.

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Noise over Chepauk pitch

With India dominating the second Test against England, several veterans of the game have jumped to blame the pitch for England's dismal performance with the bat at the Chepauk. Former Australia cricketer Mark Waugh criticized the pitch at Chepauk, terming it 'unacceptable' at Test level. The junior Waugh highlighted that it was not acceptable to have the ball going through the top of the surface on day 1 from the main part of the pitch. 

On the other hand, spin maestro Shane Warne schooled Michael Vaughan as the latter blamed the pitch for India grabbing the advantage in the ongoing Test. Warne highlighted that the pitch has been the same since day 1 but England bowlers have failed to bowl brilliantly whereas Indian batsmen have been on top of their game. The duo engaged in a war of words on Twitter as they fought over the part of the pitch in the game so far. 

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Meanwhile, after the defeat in the second Test, England skipper Joe Root asserted that the pitch and the toss had no part to play in their defeat. The English skipper added that they had already anticipated the turning behaviour of the pitch and added that winning the toss wouldn't have guaranteed a win either. "The fact is that India have shown that you can score runs on it and have found a way of managing a very tricky surface so we've got to learn from that, add it to our own games and come back better for it," he said. 

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