Rohit Sharma mince no words in slamming Indian pitch critics after Cape Town Test end in 1.5 days

The second Test of India's 2023-24 tour of South Africa was done and dusted inside four and a half sessions. Various records were born in the match, including India becoming the first Asian team to win a Test in Cape Town. A tremendous bowling display from the Indian pace attack saw India win by seven wickets. This is only the second time in nine attempts that India will leave the rainbow nation without losing a Test series.

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However, amidst all this, the talk is focused on the game ending in just 1.5 days. When neither the British-Australian media nor former cricketers raised their voices against this 107-over match, captain Rohit Sharma was in full form during the post-match press conference. The Cape Town Test broke the 89-year-old record for the shortest completed Test match (by balls bowled) - 642 balls.

Former players and media from England and Australia have always been vocal about Indian pitches when something unusual happens. However, this time when it happened in South Africa, there was no noise from them. Rohit hit back, saying he has no problem playing on these pitches as long as other teams keep quiet about pitches in India. 

"I don't mind playing on pitches like this as long as everyone keeps their mouth shut in India and doesn’t complain about Indian pitches. You come here to challenge yourself. And when people come to India it is challenging as well," Rohit said after the second Test match.

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All I wanna say is be neutral: Rohit tries to open eyes and ears of match officials while rating pitches

The veteran opener also called out the Cricket Governing Body for double standards in rating pitches. Despite Travis Head scoring a century at the Narendra Modi Stadium in the 2023 ODI World Cup final, the pitch was rated as 'below average'. Rohit pointed out that the officials should keep their ears and eyes open.

"I still can't believe that the World Cup final pitch was rated below average. A batsman got a hundred there in the final. How can that be a poor pitch? So these are the things the Cricket Governing Body, the match referees, they need to look into and start rating pitches based on what they see, not based on the countries. I think that's quite important," the 36-year-old said. 

"So I hope they keep their ears open, they keep their eyes open and look into those aspects of the game. Honestly, I'm all for pitches like this. We want to challenge playing on pitches like this. We pride ourselves playing on pitches like this. Uh, but all I wanna say is be neutral," he added.