EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: India outplayed us, admits England's former coach Robinson

In a candid conversation, England ace coach Robinson talks about the criticism of Motera Pitch, WTC and England's rotation policy, but in all he has praise for the brilliant performance by Team India.

Hyderabad: Even before the much-fancied England team landed in India, they were favourites to win the only Day-Night Test match of the four-match series against India, courtesy a lethal pace bowling unit in James Anderson and Stuart Broad, who are masters in swinging the ball both ways. The extra lacquer and the long-lasting gloss aided their style of bowling much in the same manner they do with a red ball in English conditions.

However, what happened in the Motera Test was something no one could have predicted. As many as 17 wickets fell in just two sessions and the match was over in just 842 balls, making it the shortest Test match in the last eight decades.

And perhaps the fact that no one was able to imagine that the English team, which play more Test matches than any other side in the world, could be so badly humiliated in a pink ball game is the reason that this hullabaloo surrounding this pitch doesn't seem to subside.

While some hold England's much-debated rotation policy and technical failures of its batsmen responsible for this debacle, there are others who blame the pitch.

When Etv Bharat asked former England cricketer Mark Robinson about the same, the ace coach was cautious in saying that there is a middle ground to everything.

Excerpts:

On Australians supporting England in 4th Test

A: Even though Australia's chances to reach the World Test Championship depend on Joe Root-led outfit defeating India in the fourth Test, I'm not sure if the Aussies can do that. I mean can they actually support England? I don't think so.

On England's playing XI for the last Test

A: It's going to be very difficult. They did not quite get their playing XI right in the third Test as they expected the wicket to support seamers. They expected the pink ball to swing around a bit more and seamers to be in the game. But the spinners totally dominated the game.

So before choosing the team for the next Test, they will try to understand the wicket, how their players are doing, how they are faring in the training and hope that the right players are in good form.

On England's comeback

A: You are just going to try and rally. It is not easy to make a comeback after a couple of heavy defeats, especially after the way they were beaten in the third Test. You just have to try and get yourself into the game, that's what you have to do. You are gonna have to get a foothold into the match, we have not been able to do so in the last two games. That's what they have to do, put the pressure back on the Indians, try to get whom we can bat around and pull on those partnerships, get the belief back into the team and transfer the pressure back to the opposition.

On the criticism of Chennai and Ahmedabad pitch...

There is always a middle ground in all these things, isn't there? In all fairness India deserved to win, they outplayed us. And I can only imagine what happened. From an Indian point of view, as a captain, as a management, you just want to win. So you try to get every advantage you can to win, that's the whole point of playing in home conditions.

And that's why the ICC is there for the sake of the game as a whole and that a balance between the ball and bat is maintained. I can only imagine what happened after the first game, the groundsmen were trying to make a wicket that favours spin and quite rightly so, to get home advantage. However, this time it has possibly gone a bit far and it should be addressed because you really don't want these games to last just two days.

On Neutral Pitch curator

A: Maybe we can have a neutral pitch curator or maybe not as the Motera Test was a one-off incident.

On England's rotation policy

A: It is very difficult to criticise England's rotation policy as you're not in the mix of all those conversations. But I know from my own experience, you make great plans and when these plans start to happen, we see, we did not execute things quite right and it might not go that well.

And I really feel bad for Jonny Bairstow. I mean two weeks ago, he was walking around the moors and the next minute he was in the heat playing a Test match under all kinds of pressure.

-- By Sneha Singh