India bowling coach Morne Morkel backs Wankhede and Motera curators amid pitch debate, says preparing 200-plus surfaces late in season is challenging.
Disagreeing with Kohli's assessment of the third Test that ended with India crushing England by 10 wickets inside two days, Cook said batting was near impossible
The Super Eights match between India and South Africa is expected to be played on a black soil pitch that favors seamers, potentially influencing India's team selection strategy.
Having aired his view that the Ferozeshah Kotla track was unsuitable for international matches, star Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Friday said the Motera pitch in Ahmedabad is not ideal for Test cricket either.
Australia off-spinner Nathan Lyon has joined India counterpart Ravichandran Ashwin in defending Ahmedabad's spin-friendly pitch where India thumped England inside two days of the day-night third Test on Thursday.
The Motera pitch was a 'tricky one' but England's batting coach Jonathan Trott feels that it would be a 'disservice' to solely blame the 22-yard strip instead of focussing on the chinks in their armoury.
Several former players, including India's Harbhajan Singh and VVS Laxman, on Thursday said that the turning Motera pitch, on which India defeated England by 10 wickets inside two days, was not ideal for Test cricket, an opinion that was not shared by the legendary Sunil Gavaskar.
England skipper Joe Root said it is up to the International Cricket Council, and not the players, to decide whether the "difficult" Motera pitch is suitable for Test cricket after his side was crushed inside two days by India in a low-scoring day-night encounter.
Abhishek Sharma's recent struggles in the T20 World Cup have raised concerns, but experts believe his confidence remains intact and a strong comeback is imminent.
The pitch drawing flak from former players like Vaughan, though Gavaskar credited the Indian spinners rather than blaming the surface.
A substandard pitch could have attracted sanctions for the refurbished Narendra Modi Stadium.
Sourav Ganguly, who previously served as BCCI president from 2019 to 2022, replaced his elder brother Snehasish Ganguly.
Axar Patel and senior off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin exploited the turning Motera pitch to bundle out England for 112 in their first innings
A virgin Motera pitch has become the big talking point as captain Virat Kohli looks to get the combination right with India looking to continue their momentum to trouble England in the day-night third Test match, starting in Ahmedabad, on Wednesday.
The Motera pitch came in for sharp criticism from some former players after England were bowled out for 112 and 81 in the two innings as India crushed them by 10 wickets to grab a 2-1 lead
The report also claimed that if India make the final in Ahmedabad, a slow pitch is expected at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Motera.
Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna's excellent spell with the ball and Sai Sudharsan's fluent fifty inspired Gujarat Titans to a convincing 36-run victory against Mumbai Indians.
Akhtar said that India don't need to be scared as they can beat England on fair pitches.
England on Thursday suffered an embarrassing 10-wicket defeat in the third Test against India on a spin-friendly Motera track to go down 1-2 in the four-match series and the result garnered varied reactions from the British media.
Probably the pitch is playing on Australians' mind before the big match.
The legendary Sunil Gavaskar dismissed conspiracy theories around the pitch for the World Cup semi-final between India and New Zealand, asking the "morons" to shut up and stop taking potshots at the hosts.
The skipper, however, hinted that there would be a bit more lateral movement with the pink ball which can 'work in their favour'.
Rohit Sharma feels track will be slowish one
The Sardar Patel Motera Stadium in Ahmedabad is spread over 63 acres, with a seating capacity of 1.10 lakh people. It overtakes Melbourne Cricket Ground, which can accommodate 90,000 people.
The new-look Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera's newly installed LED floodlights will eliminate shadows making it easier to spot the aerial balls during the upcoming day-night Test between India and England, starting February 24.
India off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin said talks regarding the pitch in the third Test in Motera is getting out of hand and he once again reiterated that one should be talking about the quality of play rather than the 22 yards.
Azharuddin suggested that wearing shoes with rubber soles could be a better option than the ones having spikes.
Gambhir added that it will be interesting to see the kind of wicket the teams get as both sides are capable of outclassing each other on the field.
The second Test pitch led to some sort of criticism from former players like Michael Vaughan and Mark Waugh and the duo termed the pitch as "substandard".
Mohammed Shami will be needed on a dry Motera surface, which might be conducive for reverse swing.
The Motera stadium in Ahmedabad dominated the headlines as it is set to become the world's largest cricket stadium.
The refurbished Sardar Patel Stadium in Motera is now renamed Narendra Modi Stadium.
'Whatever we get in future we will go with it. It's completely fine'
The Motera track may have received a lot of flak after the pink ball Test ended inside two days but it is unlikely to attract any severe sanctions from the game's governing body ICC with the pitch for the final game set to be a batting beauty.
Australian captain Steve Smith said the pitch for the fourth and final Test match at the Narendra Modi Stadium potentially looks to be the 'flattest day one track' of the series.
Security has been tightened following report of threats to damage the pitch in Ahmedabad.
India's captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni described the Motera featherbed as a bowler-hostile track even as his Sri Lanka counterpart Kumar Sangakkara had no issues with the strip, calling it a 'true' wicket.
Miffed with the docile pitch in the drawn Ahmedabad Test against Sri Lanka, feisty Indian off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Saturday said such batting-friendly tracks would kill cricket's longest format.
India figured out England's general "ineptitude against spin" after the second Test in Chennai which created panic in the visiting team ranks, triggering a batting collapse during their loss in the pink ball third Test in Motera inside two days, former Australia captain Ian Chappell said.
Pitch curator Dhiraj Parsana says the wicket for the second Test between India and South Africa will have good bounce for the seamers on the first two days and be good for batting after that.
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