Ravichandran Ashwin had a great time during the four match test series between India and England as he took 32 wickets in the series and also crossed the 400th wicket mark during the series. India won the test series by 3-1 as England won the first test match which was played at Chennai but then India made a strong comeback and won all the three remaining test matches.
However, the series became a little controversial due to the unnecessary slamming of the pitches by the former England cricketers. The pitch of the third test match which was played at the Narendra Modi Stadium was especially on the target of former England cricketers as the Indian team won the test match by 10 wickets and the match ended in just 2 days with the Indian spinners completely dominating the game. The fourth and the final test match also ended in 2.5 days and once again the Indian spinners proved to be too good for the England batsmen as India won the match by 25 runs and an innings.
Ravichandran Ashwin has been quite vocal against those who have criticised the pitches and recently while speaking in a virtual press conference, he says that this series is a proof that the Indian cricket team is very good.
He refers to Sunil Gavaskar’s statement and states that he feels what Little Master has said about those who are criticising pitch is absolutely correct.
Some time ago, Sunil Gavaskar said that we should not give importance to those who are slamming the pitch because they are speaking more as they are grabbing attention. He went on to say that we should respond to all the pitch critics with “chal phutt” (get lost) as nobody cares about the pitches when the Indian team travels overseas; it is only when the other teams visit India and lose, then they start blaming pitches.
R Ashwin adds that by giving attention to these critics, we are encouraging them more to make fun of the game. He says that one day, he will like to see the Indian commentators talking about the pitches with grass in other countries and making an Instagram post about it. Ashwin also states that he will like to see the reaction of global media on such Instagram posts and then it will be clear as to who is making mistakes.
What is your take on Ashwin’s statement? Do you agree with him and Sunil Gavaskar?