‘It’s getting too much’: Rohit Sharma baffled by pitch chatter despite ‘poor’ rating

India captain Rohit Sharma has leapt to the defence of the under-fire pitches which have been prepared in his country so far during the Test series against Australia.

The playing conditions have come under heavy scrutiny with all three matches so far finishing inside three days. And things reached a tipping point in the third Test with the Indore pitch receiving a ‘poor’ rating from the ICC.

Match referee Chris Broad didn’t hold back in his assessment of the wicket that was prepared for the match which Australia won by nine wickets.

“The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start,” Broad said in his report.

“The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match.”

Even Indian spinning great Harbhajan Singh criticised the state of the Indore pitch, bemoaning the lack of skill required from bowlers to pick up wickets.

“You might be (Sachin) Tendulkar, (Jacques) Kallis, Brian Lara or Virat Kohli, even an unknown bowler will dismiss you on this pitch if you play six balls continuously,” Harbhajan told Star Sports.

But Rohit wasn’t having any of it, saying the criticism of the playing conditions in India had gone overboard.

“This pitch talk is getting too much. Every time you play in India there’s only focus on the pitch,” he said.

Rohit highlighted the first Test between South Africa and the West Indies, which ended inside three days on a fast Centurion surface on Thursday, and said that batting-friendly tracks produced “boring” contests.

“Why are people not asking me about Nathan Lyon and how well he bowled? How well (Cheteshwar) Pujara batted? How well Usman Khawaja played?” Rohit asked.

“We focus too much on the pitch here in India and I don’t feel it’s necessary.

“Former cricketers, I don’t think they played on pitches like this. These are the kinds of pitches we want to play on, this is our strength.

“When you’re playing at your home, always play to your strength. Not worry about what people outside are talking about. Our strength is spin bowling and batting depth.

“Everyone uses that advantage as home side, so what’s wrong with that?

“We’ve got to do that as well. Especially when we are getting results. If we were not getting the results, I would think otherwise. But we are playing well, getting the results we want.”

Sharma found an ally in one former cricketer, though, with the legendary Sunil Gavaskar slamming the ICC’s decision to slap three demerit points on the Indore pitch.

“One thing I would like to know, there was this Test match in November in Brisbane (at the) Gabba, where the match finished in two days. How many demerit points did that pitch get?” Gavaskar told India Today.

Stand-in Aussie skipper Steve Smith said he had enjoyed the spin challenge.

“I prefer this more than just a genuine flat wicket that goes five days and can be boring in stages,” he said.

“There’s always something happening on these wickets — you’ve got to really work hard for your runs.”

India take an unassailable 2-1 lead into the fourth and final Test at Ahmedabad this Thursday and have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy for the fourth time in a row.

However, they need to win the fourth Test to make sure they qualify for the World Test Championship final against Australia at The Oval in June.

— with AFP