India skipper Virat Kohli on Tuesday rejected criticism of the spin-friendly Chepauk pitch, asserting that his side showed the requisite grit and determination to conquer England on it in the second Test with the toss not being a matter of concern at all.
“We didn’t panic out there looking at the turn and bounce, we showed grit, got into the game and scored 600 runs in the game. We know our bowlers would do the job for us if we put up these runs,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
Former Egland players such as Kevin Pietersen had mocked the pitch for the turn it offered from day one, calling it a “brave” track for a Test match and that fortunes could have swung the other way had India lost the toss and batted second.
Kohli said it wouldn’t have mattered.
“If you looked at our second innings, we got 300 as well. It wasn’t unfair if the toss went either way. Both teams should be in the game from the first session onwards, whether it is on spinning to seaming tracks, and that exactly was the case in this game,” he said.
The India captain said playing before fans was a big factor in their massive victory as the home players were egged on by the cheering crowd.
A disappointed England skipper Joe Root had no qualms in admitting that India outplayed them in all three departments.
“It has been an education for us, you could come up with conditions like these and we have to learn from this and find a way to score runs. We need to learn to build pressure and bowl six balls at one batsman,” said Root.
“On day one we could have been a bit tighter, squeeze the game a bit more and make it harder for them to score.
“From day two it was a very difficult wicket to bat on. But we have got to be smarter about how we’re building an innings.”