2nd Test: Sunil Gavaskar feels Chepauk pitch criticism 'pretty unwarranted'

Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Monday hit back at former cricketers including Michael Vaughan and Mark Waugh for their criticism of the MA Chidambaram pitch in the ongoing second Test between India and England saying that its a challenging wicket but not unplayable and that some people are always complainingAs many as 15 wickets fell on Day Two of the Test match including 10 of Englands who were bowled out for 134 in reply to Indias 329Gavaskar feels the pitch is not unplayable at all as proven by Rohit Sharma who scored a brilliant 161 in the first inningsWe saw how Rohit Sharma getting 150 and yesterday he was getting close to ball and batting This criticism on pitch is pretty unwarranted Gavaskar said during a conversation with former England cricketer Mark Butcher on Star SportsFew people trying to make the point no matter who is on top the ball should not be going through the top of the surface from Day 1 of a Test match Is that what the tweets are about said ButcherSome of them are saying that but you have a seeming pitch in England Australia get dismissed for 46 the ball keeps seeming all throughout No one talks about that Its always about Indian pitches and when the ball starts to turn people pose a problem added GavaskarAustralians do moan about that a lot I admit Butcher saidWhile criticising the pitch Vaughan had tweeted Its entertaining cricket as things are happening all the time but lets be honest this pitch is a shockerNot making any excuses as India have been better but this isnt a Test Match 5 day prepared pitchIm all for a good contest between bat and ball in test match cricket but this pitch in Chennai is unacceptable at test match level You cant have the ball going through the top of the surface on day 1 from the main part of the pitch Ie ie not from the footmarks Waugh had said on the microblogging websiteGavaskar said that had the pitch been unplayable India wouldnt have been able to post a total in excess of 300 in their first inningsOne or two who we know who dont like India who dont like England so they always be having a go at India and England so thats fine We ignore them because we know the double standards But basically we saw with Rohit Sharmas innings if pitch was impossible nobody would have scored 330 said the former India captainIts not unplayable Its a challenging pitch and thats what cricket should be about In the first Test on the first two days when nothing was happening people were saying its boring nothing is happening Its so easy to bat So there has to be a bit of balance between what is said You cannot be complaining all the time he addedThe 71yearold further said that the point that can be argued is the difference in quality of spinners of the two teamsYou can argue that maybe England spinners are not as good as Ashwin That they did not bowl the lines and length that Ashwin or Axar did But you have to also argue that who has got the better technique when it comes to batting and who has the better skills when it comes to bowling That really should be the debate rather than the pitch said GavaskarThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever