Team India is producing a decent performance in the second Test against England for the Anthony de Mello Trophy, at the MA Chidambaram (Chepauk) Stadium in Chennai. India lost the opening Test at the same venue.Throughout the two Tests so far, the track in Chennai has been criticised for being either too flat or branding it unplayable. Meanwhile, legendary former Indian skipper, Sunil Gavaskar has blasted these critics, including fellow former greats Michael Vaughan and Mark Waugh, deeming that the pitch might be challenging, but not unplayable.
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The criticism came after Vaughan had blasted the pitch in a series of tweets, while one of them read “It’s entertaining cricket as things are happening all the time, but let’s be honest, this pitch is a shocker...Not making any excuses as India have been better, but this isn’t a Test Match 5-day prepared pitch.”
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Moreover, Waugh blasted the Chennai track by writing in his blog, “I’m all for a good contest between bat and ball in test match cricket, but this pitch in Chennai is unacceptable at Test match level. You can’t have the ball going through the top of the surface on Day 1 from the main part of the pitch, i.e. not from the footmarks.”
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Criticising both, Gavaskar told on Star Sports, “We saw how Rohit Sharma getting 150, and yesterday, he was getting close to ball and batting. This criticism is pretty unwarranted. Some of them are saying that, but you have a seeming pitch in England. Australia get dismissed for 46, the ball keeps seeming all throughout. No one talks about that. It’s always about Indian pitches, and when the ball starts to turn, people pose a problem.”
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“It’s not unplayable. It’s a challenging pitch, and that’s what cricket should be about. In the first Test, on the first two days, when nothing was happening, people were saying ‘it’s boring, nothing is happening. It’s so easy to bat.’ So, there has to be a bit of balance between what is said. You cannot be complaining all the time,” he added.
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Gavaskar was also supported by fellow expert on Star and former English legend, Mark Butcher, who said, “Few people trying to make the point no matter who is on top, the ball should not be going through the top of the surface from Day 1 of a Test match. Is that what the tweets are about? Australians do moan about that a lot, I admit.”
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