After a long silence after the World Cup 2023, Indian Captain Rohit Sharma finally broke his silence and gave answers to the press. The good thing is that Rohit is looking confident again and looks back on his form as a captain.
The press conference was held after the 2nd test match between South Africa and India, in which India won by 7 wickets and the series was a draw. The main problem in the match was the pitch as it was in the favor of the seamers very much and it turned out to be the shortest test match in history. Rohit addresses the press as -
"I mean, we saw what happened in this match, how the pitch played and stuff like that," Rohit said. "I honestly don't mind playing on pitches like this as long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and doesn't talk too much about Indian pitches, honestly.
"Because you come here [in Test cricket] to challenge yourself. Yes, it is dangerous. It is challenging. So, when people come to India, it is again pretty challenging. Look, when you are here to play Test cricket, we talk about Test cricket, the ultimate prize, Test cricket being the pinnacle, and stuff like that. I think it's important that we also stand by it.
"When you are put up against, a challenge like that, you come and face it. That's what happens in India, but, in India on day one, if the pitch starts turning, people start talking about 'Puff of dust! A puff of dust!' There's so much crack here on the pitch. People are not looking at that."
Rohit referred to the reviews of the ICC World Cup 2023 final pitch and said - "I think it's important that we stay neutral everywhere we go, Especially the match referees. You know, some of these match referees need to keep their eye on how they rate pitches. It's quite important.
"I still can't believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average [it was rated average. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the ICC, the match referees, need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that's quite important.
"So I hope they keep their ears open, they keep their eyes open and look into those aspects of the game. Honestly, I'm all for pitches like this. We want to challenge playing on pitches like this. We pride ourselves on playing on pitches like this. Uh, but all I want to say is be neutral."
In the two test matches India played against South Africa, South Africa did not bowl any spin at all, while India bowled 19 overs of it. Rohit further concluded by saying-
"Honestly, I would like to see how the pitches are rated," Rohit said. "I want to see that. Whatever... that chart, I would love to see, how they rate the pitches, because Mumbai, Bangalore, Cape Town, and Centurion, all have different venues, and overhead conditions are different. The pitches deteriorate quite fast when the sun is beating down that hard on the pitch.
"And in India as well, we know that the conditions in India will spin without a doubt, but people don't like it because it spins from day one. But that's not the point. If the ball seems from ball one, that's okay, right, for everyone? That's not fair. The ball starts spinning from ball one, it should be okay, in my opinion.
"Otherwise, you stay neutral, and you start rating these kinds of pitches also bad because if you want the ball only to seam and not turn, in my opinion, that is absolutely wrong. So that's my judgment, that's my opinion on it. I'll stick by it because I've seen enough of cricket now and I've seen enough of how these match referees and the ICC looks into these ratings. I have no issues in how they want to rate, but stay neutral to everything that you do."
In conclusion, Rohit Sharma wanted to tell everyone that they should now compare the conditions and he is ready to play on pitches like this if no one is pointing back to his home pitches, i.e. pitches in India. After the review of the final's pitch, they were called to play against South Africa at Newlands Cricket Ground which resulted in the shorted test math of the history was a little disappointing to him.
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