'There was spin but...': Sunil Gavaskar opines on the Ahmedabad pitch in IND vs ENG series

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar has defended the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad as he said that opener Rohit Sharma showed the way to bat on the strip where England lost 20 wickets within two days to trail the four-Test series 2-1. 

Rohit was the pick of the batsman for the hosts as the ‘Hitman’ scored 66 and 25 not-out with England’s Zak Crawley being the only other half-centurion in the third Ahmedabad Test. 

Former England cricketers Alastair Cook, Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan among others criticised the pitch after the visitors lost the match by 10 wickets. However, Gavaskar has said that the Ahmedabad pitch was not "treacherously challenging" and pointed fingers towards the batsmen for their poor technique against spin bowling.  

"It was not a pitch where the ball was misbehaving constantly. Nothing was kicking up alarmingly. Neither was there any great invariable bounce that the ball would shoot. Here, the bounce was actually true, almost. 

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"Yes, there was spin but Test match batsmen should be able to handle the turn or the straighter ones. Challenging, but not treacherously challenging. If you look at the dismissals, the batsmen have contributed to their own downfall. 

"More than the pitch, it was about the mindset which did them in. Rohit Sharma’s batting in both innings showed you could score runs on this pitch," Gavaskar told Indian Express 

ALSO READ: Poor pitch in Ahmedabad or abysmal batting performance?

The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad is also set to host the fourth and final Test from March 4 and will go on to stage the five-match T20I series against England as well. 

When it comes to the ICC World Test Championship scenario, India need either a win or a draw to secure a berth in the summit clash against New Zealand.