England skipper Joe Root and coach Chris Silverwood had a long look at the 22 yards at the Motera Stadium on the eve of the pink-ball Test on Tuesday and the duo then engaged in a lengthy chat in the middle.
Root was seen going to the middle of the pitch and he tapped it to see how hard the surface is. From the look of it - from a distance -- the pitch has some grass in the middle. But it will be interesting to see how much of it will be left by the curator going into the game on Wednesday.
The pitch in Chennai came in for severe criticism from former England players during the second Test and the likes of Michael Vaughan termed it as sub-standard. India batsman Rohit Sharma though blasted critics and said that pundits and critics should focus on the performance of the players and not the type of pitch prepared as it is all about seizing home advantage.
"Pitch is the same for both teams. I do not know why there is so much discussion about the pitch. Both teams play on the same turf and if people start talking about the pitch, I just want to say pitches in India have always been like this. I do not think there were any changes, everyone takes the home advantage, when we go outside, nobody thinks about us so why should we think about others? We should do things as per the preference of our team, this is what home advantage is all about," said Rohit during a virtual press conference on Sunday.
"If you remove the home and away advantage, tell the ICC to make rules regarding what the pitch should be. The same kind of pitch should be made in India and outside India as well. When we go outside, people make life difficult for us as well. I do not think pitches need to be discussed this much, talk about the players and their game. There should not be much discussion about the pitch," he added.
On the other hand, England batsman Zak Crawley said that he would be surprised if India decides to produce an absolute 'green seamer' for the upcoming third Test.
"It (pink ball) seems to be swinging more than the red ball and doing a bit more for the seamers. It seems to be a bit harder so the spinners are skidding it on a bit more as well. So it's going to play differently than the red ball. I expect to see more seam in this game. The spinners are still going to have to play a big role. I'd be surprised if they produced an absolute green seamer. I think it will still spin quite a bit but the seamers are going to have a bit more of a chance than in the last couple," ESPNcricinfo quoted Crawley as saying.
The four-match series between India and England currently stands level at 1-1.
( With inputs from ANI )
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