The world's largest stadium deserved better - Monty Panesar

There has been a contrasting opinion between the experts about the Ahmadabad pitch. Some experts believed that the hosts can prepare a pitch as per their liking while others said that there should be an equal contest between the bat and ball, which wasn’t the case in Motera.The third test between India and England finished inside 2 days as the hosts thrashed the Englishmen by 10 wickets. The visitors had no clue on how to tackle the quality Indian spinners on a rank turner and were bowled out for 112 and 81 in their two innings.

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Speaking to ANI, former spinner Monty Panesar opined that the pitch in Motera didn’t produce a good cricket match. He said that the largest stadium in the world deserved better than a two day Test.

“When we play club cricket, we will bowl a team out for under 100, and then it's difficult to chase because it's a turning pitch. I think being the biggest stadium in the world, Narendra Modi Stadium deserves longer Test matches because people want to see how good the wicket is, you look at the stadium, beautiful views, and what an amazing stadium India has produced. It does not deserve a two-day Test match that's under 900 balls, you might just play on a park if you are going to play this type of cricket.”

Monty, who was part of the England squad that defeated India in the Test series in 2012, further added that the test should last at least 3 -3.5 days so that the fans get to see an exciting contest between the bat and ball. He added that people who say that England batsmen can’t score runs in India should look at the record of Alaister Cook and Kevin Pietersen.

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"India will probably produce a turning pitch, at least it should last for three days. The Indian people are saying England batsmen cannot play spin very well, if you take that into account, Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen have scored runs here, Cook has got a record as good as Matthew Hayden in India,” he added

The fourth and the final test of the series will also be played at the same stadium and Monty believes that ICC should dock points from India if they prepare a similar kind of surface in the next game. He said that the wicket in the Narendra Modi stadium is even worse than the MA Chidambaram stadium in Chennai, the one that was used in the second Test. 

"I think if the next Test match is the same, then yes, the ICC should dock points. Everyone is delighted that cricket has now got the biggest stadium in the world now. At least the curator should have produced a good wicket, even if it's a turning wicket, everyone was complaining about Chennai, this was even worse."