“Everyone makes use of home advantage”: Rohit Sharma sets aside pitch debate ahead of Ahmedabad Test

Rohit Sharma sets aside pitch debate: The Indian opening batsman has called for debates on performances and not pitches.

Coming on the back of his seventh Test century, arguably the one on the most toughest pitch, India opening batsman Rohit Sharma doesn’t want to rate his match-winning innings citing it to be “satisfying personally”.

“I wouldn’t rate any knock or put one ahead of another,” he said. “Every knock comes under different a kind [of] pressure and circumstances. All the knocks are important. Yes, it was satisfying to get the team to decent total [in Chennai], so it is satisfying personally,” Sharma told reporters while interacting in a virtual press conference.

Being asked about the pitch for the third day-night Test in Ahmedabad, Sharma highlighted “early days” but expected it to be like the one in the second Test at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. With Ahmedabad last hosting a Test match in 2012 and hosting its first after a complete revamp of the stadium, the pitch is enticing a lot of interest among fans and experts.

“It’s still early days. I don’t see anything change. However, [the way] it [the pitch] played in the second Test, it’s going to be similar. It’ll turn. We’re preparing accordingly for that, let’s see when the day comes. It’s been a while since international cricket was played here, we’ll see how it goes,” Sharma said.

Rohit Sharma sets aside pitch debate

There is no going into a safe house about the fact that the Chepauk pitch had become a topic of discussion during the second Test especially after the ball started turning from Day 1. The discussion soon transformed into debates around undue advantage taken by home teams due to favouring pitches.

Despite murmurs regarding the rank turner, India scored close to 300 runs in the second innings which included a half-century and century from Virat Kohli and Ravichandran Ashwin respectively.

“I’ve never understood why it’s debated so much. People keep talking about it, but the fact is this is how pitches in India have been for a long time. I don’t think anything should change. Everyone makes use of home advantage. When we go outside, no one thinks about us – so why should we think of others,” Sharma added.

Sharma, who didn’t give the impression of wanting to mince his words, went on to defend “home advantage” and urged everyone to debate on players’ performances and not pitches for both teams play on the same pitch.

“We need to go with our team’s preference. That’s the meaning of home advantage. Else, just take it away. The ICC should come up with a uniform rule everywhere for pitches. When we go abroad, people make our life difficult. I don’t think pitches should be debated at all.

“Debates can be held on players, their performances, [and] how they are batting or bowling, but don’t debate pitches. Both teams play on the same pitch and whoever plays better wins,” Sharma mentioned.