Despite the third Test between India and England ending within two days, India opening batsman Rohit Sharma has stressed that there were no “demons” in the pitch at Motera.
“If you look at the 30 wickets which have fallen. I don’t see anything the pitch did. It’s what the batsmen did. It’s not just them, we played horribly too. It seemed a normal pitch to me. Very typical Indian wicket,” Rohit said after India’s 10-wicket win.
“We didn’t pick the right shots to play. No rough, unlike in Chennai. England batsmen just missed the line against Axar, and we also played well below our skill. We will be equipped to handle these conditions in the future.”
Rohit, whose 66 in India’s first innings was the highest individual score of the match, said the “pace of the pink ball” added to the batsmen’s difficulty.
“It came on to the bat faster than the red ball. It has got to do with the conditions in the evening. Temperature goes down and the dew [comes in] too. Again, all in all, the pace of the pink ball is slightly faster. We need to adjust to that,” he said.
Praise for Ashwin, Axar
Rohit had high praise for both Axar Patel and R. Ashwin. While he referred to Axar “coming out of nowhere and making it to the squad” and producing decisive performances in successive Tests as “brilliant”, he described Ashwin as possibly “ the match-winner in Indian cricket history”.
“One of our match-winners or the match-winner in Indian cricket history. He has won so many games for us. Big congratulations to him. Great feat. Hats off to him. Also his contribution with the bat in this series can’t be forgotten,” Rohit said.
