Pitch didn't do anything, most batsmen got out to straighter deliveries: Rohit Sharma

Tags: England tour of India 2021, England, India, India vs England, 3rd Test at Ahmedabad, Feb 24-28, 2021

Published on: Feb 26, 2021

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Indian opener Rohit Sharma refused to blame the Ahmedabad pitch after the hosts defeated England by 10 wickets in the third Test of the four-match series. Resuming at 99 for 3, India were restricted to 145 in their first innings as Joe Root claimed a five-for. Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin, however, combined to claim nine second innings wickets as England were rolled over for 81. India got home with 10 wickets to spare in the chase of 49.

Speaking after the match, Rohit said that there was nothing wrong with the pitch and that most of the batsmen perished to the straight balls. He further stated during a virtual press conference, "To be honest, I did not do anything different, when you are playing on a pitch like that, you need to have intent and you need to look to score runs. You just cannot keep blocking. The oddball might turn, the oddball might just skid on the stumps if you play for the turn. It is important to keep that intent and try to use your feet and try to do as many things as possible to try and stay ahead of the bowlers. You just need to be slightly ahead of the bowlers at times and it is about finding ways to score runs.”

Elaborating his plan further, Rohit added that he was looking for ways to score runs. “My intent was not to survive, my intent was to score runs while respecting the good balls. That's all I tried to do. The pitch was interesting, the oddball was coming in and some were turning. When you bat on a wicket like this, you need to have a clear mindset. Pitch didn't do anything, honestly speaking, if I can recollect, most of the batsmen got out on straighter deliveries, we also as a batting unit, made a lot of mistakes while batting. We also did not bat well in the first innings, the pitch did not have demons, there is nothing like that," he went on to add.

According to Rohit, the pitch was a nice one to bat on. What batsmen needed to do was get their eye in by spending some time at the crease. He further explained, “You just need to apply yourself and keep concentrating in order to score runs. If you look at the Chennai Test match, the second Test, it was turning hell of a lot than it did here. A lot of the batters got runs there in the second Test, in this Test, we need to be honest to ourselves and accept that we did not bat well."

Axar Patel was named man of the match for his 11 wickets. During the match, Ashwin also became the second-fastest bowler to reach 400 wickets in Test cricket.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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