With the Test ending in two days, and spinners taking 28 of the 30 wickets to fall, the Ahmedabad pitch has come into sharp focus

Nagraj Gollapudi25-Feb-20216:11

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Was the Ahmedabad pitch poor?Virat Kohli rates it ‘very good’; Alastair Cook calls it ‘so hard’; Sunil Gavaskar says “challenging”; Andrew Strauss says balance “too much in favour” of spinnersThe first Test at the new Narendra Modi stadium will be remembered as the shortest one ever played in India. This day-night Test, the first first-class match played at the ground since 2013, will also be remembered as the shortest completed Test globally since 1935. It had no place for the fast bowlers, who took only two of the 30 wickets to fall. The match finished 98 minutes before end of play on day two, forcing Indian captain Kohli to term it as the most “bizzare” Test he had played in his career.Related

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But what about the performance of the biggest protagonist of this two-day drama: the pitch? While purists labelled it as definitely poor, Kohli called it “very good”, and, instead blamed the batsmen on both teams for coming up with an “under par” performance against good spin bowling.”[It was] a very good pitch to bat on – especially in the first innings – and it felt like the ball was coming on nicely with the odd-ball turning,” Kohli said. Axar Patel and R Ashwin hounded England for a second successive day, to help India take a pivotal 2-1 series lead in the four-Test series. The defeat eliminated England from the race for the second finalist spot in the World Test Championship, to be played in June.What confounded Kohli was the fact that nearly 21 out of the 30 wickets fell to the straighter delivery from the spinners. “It was just, I would say, below-par batting from both teams. Our bowlers were much more effective and that’s why we got the result,” he said.4:15

Match Day: Bad pitch or bad batting?

Not everyone agreed with Kohli though. Among those who differed included two former England captains – Strauss and Cook, who felt Kohli was being protective of the groundsmen. Both Strauss and Cook are experts for , the series broadcaster in the UK.According to Cook, who led England to a 2-1 series victory on the 2012-13 tour in India, the degree of turn on offer for the spinners was too much and came into play way too early. “We saw a stat that says this pitch has spun more than any other pitch in India,” Cook said. “There’s been so many other balls that have gone straight on as well. So that means when it is turning, it is turning miles. When you see the highlights and the ball skidding on you, we don’t see the build-up: when the exact same ball is spinning miles.”Cook said the pitch was the main cause behind the batsmen’s struggles. “Virat Kohli’s come out and defended the wicket almost as if it’s a BCCI thing – it cannot possibly be the wicket. Yet it was so hard to bat on that today. .