The Chennai Pitch became the talking point on day 2 of the second Test as 15 wickets fell on the day’s play. England lost 10 wickets while India lost five as Ravichandran Ashwin took his 29th five wicket-haul to put India in control at the end of the day’s play. India are leading by 250 runs in the second innings as they have the game well under control. Meanwhile, former England skipper Michael Vaughan criticised the pitch for the way it played out on the second day especially.
Taking to Twitter, Michael Vaughan in a series of tweets spoke about the behaviour of the Chennai pitch. “It’s entertaining cricket as things are happening all the time but let’s be honest this Pitch is a shocker. Not making any excuses as India have been better but this isn’t a Test Match 5 day prepared Pitch … #INDvENG” said the former England skipper.
India been better in all aspects .. But the pitch hasn’t been the same from Ball one !!! It’s fine to produce whatever you want at home to gain advantage .. But this pitch for a 5 day Test match is a stinker .. but if I was India I would have done the same ..👍 https://t.co/ySGGzwg9ja
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) February 14, 2021
Meanwhile, the likes of Shane Warne and his former teammate defended the Chennai pitch saying that you are expected to get similar conditions at home. Both of them gave the example of how Rohit Sharma batted in the Test match and asked the England batsmen to learn from that.
“The toss was more important to win in the 1st test than this one, as it did nothing the 1st 2 days. Then exploded. This one has been a turner from ball one. Eng should’ve bowled India out for 220. No different between spinning or seaming & Rohit showed how to play on this surface” wrote Shane Warne.
Shane Warne Slams Michael Vaughan
There’s no diff between the ball seaming/spinning to much. We always want a fair contest between bat/ball. India have batted & bowled better than Eng in this match – simple. Conditions have been the same for both sides from ball one. But this is excessive & in favour of the ball https://t.co/lx31k7BqCl
— Shane Warne (@ShaneWarne) February 14, 2021
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Vaughan’s former England teammate Graeme Swann also defended the Chennai pitch and said in favour of it as well. Like Warne, he also said that Indian conditions are expected to be the same and the players are expected to adjust to the conditions.
“I have no problem at all with a pitch offering this much spin (hardly a surprise naturally). We prepare green pitches to suit our bowlers at home when deemed necessary so it’s fair game. We should be taking notes on how to excel from @ImRo45 @RishabhPant17 and @ashwinravi99”
I have no problem at all with a pitch offering this much spin (hardly a surprise naturally). We prepare green pitches to suit our bowlers at home when deemed necessary so it’s fair game. We should be taking notes on how to excel from @ImRo45 @RishabhPant17 and @ashwinravi99
— Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66) February 14, 2021