The Australia tour of India 2023 has been full of controversies, with the Aussie media and fans criticizing India for the premature conclusion of Tests due to certain kinds of pitches at the start of their visit. Something similar happened yet again at Indore’s Holkar cricket stadium on March 3 as the third Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2023 ended in just three days. But this time, it was also the Indian supporters and veteran cricketers who expressed their disappointment with the pitch.
After thrashing Australia in the Nagpur and Delhi Tests, India faced a major setback in Indore and tasted a nine-wicket defeat at the hands of visitors in the third Test of the BGT 2023 on Friday, March 3. While many questioned and blamed the nature of the pitch in Indore for India’s defeat, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma backed the track and said that he has no problem with such pitches.
“Honestly speaking, these are the kind of pitches we want to play on. We want to play to our strength, and that strength is spin bowling and that batting depth. And everyone uses that advantage outside [India], so what’s wrong in that? We’ve got to do that as well, especially when we’re getting results. If we were not getting the results, I would think otherwise, but I think we are playing well, we are getting the results that we want,” said Rohit in the post-match presentation.
Rohit further spoke about the Test matches ending in less than five days and said his focus remains on winning games instead.
“We’re here to win – whether it’s two days or five days, it doesn’t really matter. We don’t want to prepare a pitch where the results are not coming. We are here to win, and we want to play to win, every game that we play. When I say that, I do understand that it can come and haunt us as well, I’m very much aware of that, but so be it,” added the India captain.