Yes, the third Test between India and England which was supposed to go on for five days ended within a day and a half.
A total of 30 wickets fell while the number of runs made throughout the four innings was an underwhelming 387 and the entire pink-ball match wrapped up in just 842 deliveries, making it the shortest Test match since World War II.
Shortest #Test since 2nd world war! Phew! https://t.co/oMCJCpWEOK
— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) February 25, 2021
Yes, one of the biggest reasons something so exceptional took place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad in the past couple of days, is the tricky pitch that came along with the inauguration of the venue.
No, the pitch should not be blamed for the batting failures on both sides of the match and the eventual loss to the touring England side.
Here are five reasons why people complaining about Motera pitch should stop and appreciate India’s win
1. Defensive Mindset By Batsmen:#INDvENG #moterapitch
Sunil Gavaskar blames England batsmen's mindset, @joefooty Root says pitch needs to allow for a contest.
✍️ @shamik100https://t.co/H6bB4bHyWp
One of the finest batsmen in the history of Indian cricket and a legend of the game, Sunil Gavaskar spoke about how both Indian and English batsmen apart from Rohit Sharma and Zak Crawley lacked the intent to play aggressively.
“England were thinking of how to survive and not how to score runs,” he said.
Gavaskar’s words were reinforced by Sharma’s second innings as well in which the hitman scored the last 14 runs at the back of two fours and a six to end the match against England skipper Joe Root. When the fear of losing his wicket escaped his mind, Sharma played with an open bat and made the pitch look as playable as any other.
2. England Playing With Just One Spinner:England with one spinner in the playing XI.#INDvsENG pic.twitter.com/nVCx0FuSfx
— CricTracker (@Cricketracker) February 24, 2021
Out of the 30 wickets that fell on Day 1 and 2, 28 were taken by spinners. Local hero Axar Patel picking up six wickets in the first and second innings of the match respectively shows how much benefit the spinners could have taken from the pitch.
India won the match just when Root decided to step into the Motera stadium with just one mainstream spinner in Jack Leach (who, by the way, ended up taking four wickets in the first innings). What makes this even more valid is the fact that a part-time spinner like Root himself had a five-wicket haul and dismissed names like Rishabh Pant, Ravichandran Ashwin and Washington Sundar off the pitch.
Former England spinner Graeme Swann also slammed Joot for playing the match with just one spinner. "You cannot come to India and play just one spinner in a Test match and get way on this wicket," he said.
3. ‘Toss Jeeto Match Jeeto’ Argument:Oops india , asha karta hoon ki yeh, toss jeeto match jeeto wala wicket na ho
— Kevin Pietersen🦏 (@KP24) February 24, 2021
In the first two Tests, the team that won the toss and chose to bat first was being considered to have a huge advantage in the match. This notion translated well and almost became a theory when the batting-first side ended up winning the respective games.
Back at Chennai’s Chepauk stadium as well, the critics of Indian pitches were ranting about how the turf was unbalanced and played in favour of the spinners significantly. Some even argued that the turf “wasn’t suited for Test cricket” - a similar argument to that for the Motera pitch.
Even before the third Test, it was believed that whoever won the toss would end up winning the match and that visiting the ground for the next five days would simply be a formality. Guess what, England won the toss, chose to bat and ended up getting wrapped up for 112 runs.
4. Home-Ground Advantage:️️ Every team has the right to home advantage, reckons @ImRo45. @Paytm #INDvENG #TeamIndia pic.twitter.com/ZbF7ufj01M
— BCCI (@BCCI) February 21, 2021
At the end of the second Test in Chepauk Stadium, Rohit Sharma had hit bullseye when he addressed various critics talking about how India prepared pitches that favoured their spinners as compared to international pacers.
"Every team makes full use of their home advantage. When we go out, the same happens there as well, they don't think about us. So, why should we think about anyone? What we like and what is our team's preference, we should do that... this is what home or away advantage is all about. Otherwise, take out the home and away advantage away and play cricket without it. Tell ICC to make a rule, setting identical norms for pitches in India and outside," Sharma had said in a virtual press conference.
Totally agree ... https://t.co/SR9uEZMFrN
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 21, 2021
Even Michael Vaughan, who has been one of the biggest critics of the Indian pitches throughout the series , ended up agreeing with Sharma’s thoughts, so why should anything change now?
5. The Sheer Margin Of Victories:India, on February 25, won by 10 wickets against England in the third Test match held at Narendra Modi Stadium.
The Indian team now leads the four-match series, 2-1.
England won the opening match in Chennai before India levelled the series 1-1 with a 317-run win at the same venue pic.twitter.com/KlSRcsiCXf
Criticising the pitch would make sense if both the sides would struggle equally in performing, scoring runs and taking wickets. However, in all the three matches that have taken place so far, the margin of victory has been more than decent.
England won the first Test at Chepauk by an incredible lead of 227 runs while the Men in Blue made a comeback and defeated the touring side by an even larger difference of 317 runs in the second and 10 wickets in the third matches, respectively.
Yes, as the days progressed in the first two matches, the Chepauk pitch transformed but isn’t that the point of Test cricket - to be able to gauge the chances on the deck, customise your game according to them and find a way to keep batting?
Simply not being able to play against spin should not and must not be hidden behind blame-games and making the lives of the pitch curators difficult.
Adapting to crises and figuring your way out of difficult situations are two important lessons to be learnt while playing the longest format of the game. While England failed to endure, Indian embraced it and it is exactly why every cricket fan must appreciate the win.
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