‘Beyond my understanding’: Rohit slams ‘pitch talk’ after Ashwin’s dig at AUS

The Nagpur pitch was all Australia could talk about when the first visuals of the track went viral on social media. There were accusations of “doctoring” the conditions from the Australian media.

However, while India managed to score 400 runs in their first innings, Australia struggled to amass the same in two opportunities as they lost by an innings and 123 runs on Saturday to go 0-1 down in the four-match Border-Gavaskar series. After the big win, India skipper Rohit Sharma slammed the “pitch talk” after Ashwin took a dig at the Aussies.

Australia batted for as long as just three sessions in the entire match. They were folded for just 177 runs on Day 1 of the Test match after opting to bat first and their misery lasted for only a single session on Day 3, having lost all 10 wickets for just 91 runs. India, on the hand, found a centurion on captain Rohit while Axar Patel and Ravindra Jadeja also scored their respective half-century knocks. Mohammed Shami too troubled the Aussies in his 37-run knock that included four sixes.

Ashwin, who was the wrecker-in-chief, in the second innings with his record five-wicket haul, took a brutal dig at Australia for all the “pitch talk”, during his conversation with Rohit on BCCI.tv.

“Pitch talk is the real favourite topic on social media, especially for touring teams. When you were batting or they were batting, not one ball nicked off and went to silly points. You guys did not look in trouble. What is the secret? Is it good batsmanship or do we play on a different pitch?” Ashwin asked Rohit.

“Same pitch. Like I said, the talk we have in the changing room, it its about your ability and what you can do on the pitch. It’s beyond my understanding why there is so much talk about pitch. Sad to see there is not enough talk about skills,” Rohit replied.

India will face Australia in the second Test starting February 17 in New Delhi.