Xtra Time Web Desk: Ace India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday hit back at an English journalist who questioned him about the Ahmedabad pitch on which the England batsmen fell like nine-pins during the Pink Ball test. The test match ended in two days with England batsmen hardly offering any resistance to the spin bowling of Ashwin and Axar Patel.
Former England captains Michael Vaughan, Andrew Strauss and Alastair Cook have been quite vocal, criticising the nature of the pitch and conditions ever since England were bowled out for 112 in their first innings. 28 out of the 30 wickets were taken by spinners in the third Test with Axar Patel taking a career-best 11 for 70 while Ashwin got 7 in the match.
Indian players have been defending the pitch saying it was the batsmen who were at fault. Captain Virat Kohli was the first to say that the batting performance from both teams was below-par.
Ashwin was asked about it by an English scribe but the off spinner responded with a question of his own.
“Who defines what a good surface is? The seam on the first day, then bat well in the next couple of days and spin on the last two days, come on, who makes these rules?
“We need to get over it and if you are asking whether the pitch in the third Test was a good surface, I do not see any players of England coming out and complaining. You should be hoping for a good cricket match, not the surface,” Ashwin said in a virtual video conference on Saturday.