Pre-match suggestions of pitch doctoring – not from the Australian players, who made no public complaints about the state of the Nagpur surface – elicited a bemused response from two leading Indian players after their comprehensive victory.
Ravichandran Ashwin, speaking in an interview with Rohit Sharma and posted to the Indian cricket board's website after the spinner destroyed the Aussies in their second innings, asked his captain: "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 point or short leg. You guys did not look in trouble. What is the secret? Is it good batsmanship or is it that we played on a different pitch?"
Rohit, whose near-flawless 120 in the first innings was the difference in the match, replied: "Same pitch … It’s beyond my understanding why there is so much talk about the pitch.
"It's sad to see there is not enough talk about skills, of the bowler, of the batter. People are not talking about the bowler and the batter, which is extremely sad, but that's how it is. It doesn’t really bother us."
Australia had planned to use the Nagpur pitch for further practice but some eager groundstaff put that idea to bed
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