IND vs ENG: ‘Blame batsmen, not Motera pitch,’ says Ex-India cricketer Anshuman Gaekwad

Skipper Joe Root scored just 17 and 19 runs respectively before he was out LBW, first to left-arm spinner Axar Patel and then to offie Ravichandran Ashwin. Pics/BCCI

Opinions are divided after the third day-night Test at the newly-inaugurated Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera between India and England ended in two days.

While the players have defended the pitch, some former cricketers, both from India and England, felt it was a bad advertisement for the longest format. However, former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad, who is currently a member of the BCCI's Apex Council, said that it's the players who are to blame and not the pitch.

Ollie Pope attempt the reverse sweep against Indian spinners on Day 2 of the third Test at Motera recently. Pope managed just one and 12 runs before being clean bowled by Ashwin in both innings

‘Poor shot selection'

"That [bad advert for Test cricket] should be attributed to the players, not the pitch. I can understand if it was unplayable, but it wasn't. It was just bad batting from both sides, poor shot selection. It was not a dangerous pitch," Baroda-based Gaekwad, 68, who had come to watch the pink-ball Test here, told mid-day on Tuesday.
Gaekwad had also played the first international Test at the Motera Stadium in 1983, v West Indies. That was a virgin pitch too but the match lasted four days with the Windies winning by 138 runs. Gaekwad faced 72 balls for his 29, the highest run-getter in the second innings, as India folded up for 103, chasing 242.

"That was a bad pitch. There were potholes. I remember Viv Richards and Jeff Dujon telling me ‘you want to get killed. See your partners have gone back to the dressing room. What are you doing here?' I said ‘you get me out and I will go'. That was a rank turner, a dry pitch but the match went to four days because the batting was different. But the batsmen [in the last pink ball Test] were very apprehensive," said Gaekwad, a former Test opener, who played 40 Tests, scoring 1985 runs. What upset Gaekwad most was the batsmen not being able to pick the line of the ball. "If it turns, you'll get an edge and be caught in the slips but you can't play down the wrong line. If you're getting out to a straight ball, how can you blame the pitch? The bat was somewhere else and the front foot was somewhere else, so a huge gap and that's why were out bowled or LBW. No batsman was ready to stretch to cut down the spin. You can't stand and deliver. There is the option of stepping out too but you can't do that to someone like Axar Patel, who bowls so quick through the air.

Anshuman Gaikwad. Pic/Suresh Karkera

‘Root didn't deserve fifer'

"Joe Root picked five wickets. What did he do? He just bowled in the right areas. I don't think he deserved five wickets because we played badly. You have to play for the straight delivery. When [former England pacer] Bob Willis bowled, we used to play for the incoming ball. But he used to also bowl leg cutters, so that would beat us, but we never got out. It's better to get beaten than be bowled," Gaekwad concluded.

Fourth Test pitch could be a slow turner

With the third Test, played with the pink ball, getting over in just two days, all eyes currently are on the pitch for the fourth Test between India and England, starting on March 4. No one except the players and the respective team managements, have access to the ground. However, according to sources, the strip for the final Test here is likely to be a slow turner where the spinners will dominate the proceedings again.