Published 14:03 IST, February 28th 2021
Michael Vaughan still has pitch hangover before 4th India-England test; leads meme brigade
The hue and cry over the pitch, from both fans and former cricketers, continued as India and England gear up for the final face-off at the Narendra Modi Stadium
The hue and cry over the pitch, from both fans and former cricketers, continued as India and England gear up for the final test match face-off at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. While India has come under sharp criticism for the preparation of the pitches in the last two games, the Men in Blue and former Indian cricketers have maintained that there was absolutely no issue with the pitch and that it was the batsmen's fault instead as they were not able to apply appropriate batting techniques. Some former England players and fans, however, still remain in the hangover of the pitch controversy and took to Twitter to post memes on India's pitch preparation for the 4th Test.
Former England cricketer Michael Vaughan, who has simply refused to believe that India were the better side, took a dig at the preparation of the pitch by sharing an image of a farmer plowing his field.
However, Indian fans refused to accept England fans blaming the pitch for their pathetic batting collapse alongside pointing out that Indian teams rarely complained of pitches on foreign tours.
Veterans divided over pitch controversy
Veterans of the game have been divided over the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium. While Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss, and Alastair Cook have been strong critiques of the pitch, Sunil Gavaskar, Kevin Pietersen, and Geoffrey Boycott have maintained that the pitch had very little to and it was due to the 'horrendous' batting show by both the teams that resulted in a low-scoring game. Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin - one of India's webmasters at the Motera - smashed critics complaining of pitches and stated that talks over the surface are 'getting out of hand'.
Ashwin smashes critics
The Chennai-lad reiterated that instead of talking about the pitch, there should be scrutiny over the quality of play after England's embarrassing 10-wicket defeat on Thursday in the third Test. Addressing a press briefing on Saturday, Ashwin said, "I think I have said that in the past as well, everyone is entitled to their opinion and I am not here to say that your opinion is right and it is wrong. The fact remains that the talk about the surface is getting out of hand. Why should you talk about the surface and sell that to us time and again? Is there any instance where the pitch has been talked about this much when we have played games in other countries."
Now, with the growing noise over the turning pitches and demands of deduction of India's WTC points, a BCCI official in the know of the developments has said that the pitch for the fourth Test can be expected to be a 'batting beauty'. With Indian being 2-1 up in the four-match Test series and midway to the final of the World Test Championship, the hosts have allegedly ruled out the possibility of having another rank turner pitch to avoid any ICC sanction.
Updated 14:03 IST, February 28th 2021