“Former cricketers did not play on pitches like this…Every time we play in India, the focus is only on pitch” – Rohit Sharma reacts to all the criticism regarding the Indian pitches

The third Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series between India and Australia started in Indore on Wednesday morning, and it was met with a torrent of criticism. Both teams lost 14 wickets on the first day and 16 on the second, and neither side scored more than 200 runs in an innings, prompting former cricketers like Matthew Hayden, Mark Waugh, and Michael Clark to go on a tirade against the Holkar Stadium surface. Moments after the home team’s nine-wicket defeat in the third Test, India captain Rohit Sharma muted the chatter surrounding the pitch with a very blazing reply.

The first session of play for India lasted just over an hour when they were bowled out for 109 runs. Australia ended Day 1 with a slender advantage, although they lost four wickets in the process. India’s total was brought down dramatically to 163 at the end of Day 2 when they lost their last six wickets in only 22.3 overs.

India’s captain, Rohit, was questioned about the surface in Indore after yet another three-day finale to a Test match, and he answered with characteristic venom, adding that none of those legendary cricketers ever played on pitches like this. He went on to say that the Indian team made a conscious choice to play on these surfaces despite the difficulties they posed and that if they hadn’t won, they would have had to examine their strategy.

What did Rohit Sharma say?

“Former cricketers did not play on pitches like this. So I don’t know. As I said, this is the kind of pitch we wanted to play in and this is our strength. When you play in home, you want to play to your strength and not worry about what people outside are speaking about. And had we not gotten results, we would have thought otherwise,” he said.

During the Indore Test, Rohit remarked he was tired of hearing about the pitch conditions and would rather hear about Nathan Lyon’s 13 wickets and Player of the Match award or the batting of Cheteshwar Pujara and Usman Khawaja.

“This pitch talk is getting too much. Every time we play in India, the focus is only on pitch. Why are people not asking me about Nathan Lyon and how well he bowled? Or, how well Pujara batted in the second innings? Or, how well Usman Khawaja played? Those are the things I can give you a details on, but not on pitch because it is absolutely not necessary,” he said.

Rohit Sharma said, "it was a collective decision to play on such pitches. We know the challenge will be on our batters too, but we're ready for such challenges".

— Mufaddal Vohra (@mufaddal_vohra) March 3, 2023