England tour of India: Virat Kohli slams pitch critics ahead of 4th Test vs England

The Motera pitch for the Pink Ball Test has been under the scanner after 17 wickets fells in less than three sessions of the second day and the match was done and dusted within the first two days. While there have a lot of criticisms directed at the pitch, there have been divided opinions on the same.

India captain Virat Kohli has not minced any words and spoken up about the pitch critics and pointed at their doubletalk as there is never enough criticisms of seaming surfaces. Kohli has admitted to experiencing a lot of white noise around turning pitches and believes that the narrative has to change.

"I totally believe that there is always too much noise over spinning tracks. I am sure if our media is in a space to contradict those views or present views which say that it is unfair to criticism only spinning tracks, then I think it will be a balanced conversation.

But the unfortunate bit is that everyone sort of plays along with that narrative and keeps making it news till the time it's irrelevant and then a Test match happens - then on days 4 and 5 no one says anything. But if the match finishes in 2 days, then everyone makes it a big issue.. It just becomes an issue to talk about" Virat



Kohli said at a press conference ahead of the 4th Test at the same venue.

Further on, Kohli has also said that Team India never cribs about pitches on tour and has given the example of the New Zealand tour where there was a significant amount of grass on the pitch.

“We lost in New Zealand on Day 3 in 36 overs. I am sure none of our people wrote about the pitch. It was about how New Zealand played badly in New Zealand. None of the pitches were criticised .. no one came and saw how much the pitch was doing, how much the ball was moving and how much grass there was on the pitch,” he added.

“The reason for our success is we haven’t cribbed about any of the pitches we have played on and we would continue to play like that as a team moving forward as well. It has always been the case - spinning tracks come into focus way more and when the ball seams on a particular pitch and teams get bundled out for 40, 50 or 60.. no one writes about the pitch. It's always about bad batting. We all need to be very honest with ourselves - what space are we talking from and what's the idea behind continuing this narrative and what purpose it serves people to continue this conversation which is so one-sided.”