Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma has lambasted the people criticizing the Indian pitches, who complain about the spin-friendly tracks
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in his post-match press-conference stated that he does not mind playing in pitches like Cape Town as long as the rest of the teams 'shut up' about Indian pitches. He further lashed out at the ICC for rating the Narendra Modi Stadium pitch below average. (Match Report | As It Happened | Scorecard | Full Coverage)
Sharma opined that pitches cannot be rated as 'below average' if a batter scored a century on the track - ponting at the match-winning knock from Travis Head in the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad.
"I don't mind playing on pitches like this as long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and doesn’t complain about Indian pitches. You come here to challenge yourself. And when people come to India it is challenging as well," Sharma said after the second Test match.
"I still can’t believe that the World Cup final was rated below average. A batter got a hundred. How can that be a poor pitch?" he further added.
ALSO READ: Dean Elgar Praises IND Pace Attack
History unfolded in Cape Town as mere 107 overs were bowled in one and a half days for a result. India defeated the Proteas by seven wickets after the Indian pace attack dominated throughout the Test match.
The Cape Town Test match saw seam and swing take centrestage as India bowled out the Proteas for 55 inside one session of the match. India themselves did not fare in their first innings of the match and were dismissed for 153 afer losing their last six wickets for zero runs.
In Proteas' second innings, their batters were once again troubled by the Indian bowlers barring Aiden Markram who batted exceptionally well.
Markram's ton allowed the home team to post 176 runs with a target of 79 runs. India chased down the target in 12 overs. Sharma later bashed the ICC for treating the pitches in international cricket.
"I would love to see the chart match referees prepare while rating pitches. We know in India ball spins from Day 1, you are not okay. When ball seams from Day 1, you are okay. That's not okay," Sharma lashed out.
India drew a Test series in South Africa for the first time since 2010/11. Rohit is the first skipper since MS Dhoni to draw a series in the Rainbow Nation.