Hyderabad: As an out of fuel England, away from their home comforts of muggy, cool weather and strips that aid movement, brace itself for scorchy heat and spin-friendly wickets in Ahmedabad, a topic that has become common in the daily lives of cricket aficionados and critics alike are the pitches being catered to opposition batsmen.
The last two Test matches in "the land of spin" as said by West Indian great Viv Richards, have witnessed England batsmen befell and outfoxed by Indian spinners. So much so, that even their best wicket-keeper Ben Foakes has admitted it to being a tall order behind the stumps.
Read: EXCLUSIVE: Pitches at Motera, Chennai are like fields to grow vegetables, says Karsan Ghavri
To go by the numbers, R Ashwin alone has accounted for 24 wickets in a mere 3 matches and his junior partner Axar Patel has stirred England's batsmen already jangled nerves with 18 wickets in two matches. In a nutshell, the batting hasn't clicked and bowlers have failed in front of Indian batsmen who have better cognisance of the situation.
Have England brought it on themselves by not adjusting and repairing their technical glitches or is it the pitch that has been unfair on them?
"This pitch was like an agriculture field. It became extremely difficult for the batsmen to survive," former left-arm seamer Karsan Ghavri, who together with Kapil Dev picked 183 wickets in 27 Test matches, told Etv Bharat.
However, Joe Root and his teammates haven't made any complaints but the captain's reaction, a sardonic smile, when he saw the pink ball missing Zak Crawley's bat by a mile in the first innings of the second Test summed up England's overall mindset and approach towards the game.
Root has been bereft of support as England's next best batter Ben Stokes' scorecard in this series has run dry like the pitches in Motera and Chennai. His overall tally reads 146 runs in 3 matches at an average of 24.33.
Read: 'THE MATCH': With Lord's in sight, India ready to cook England's goose
As the series progressed, poor performances of other batsmen seemed to have rubbed off on Root's batting as well. England's prolific batsman currently stands atop in the series' highest run-getter list with 333 runs but nothing substantial has come after his first innings double hundred in Chennai.
The rotational policy that has come into criticism by former England greats sitting in a distant land has not helped the team either.
The English team knows that the pitch is going to turn as India's deputy Ajinkya Rahane declared on Wednesday that the wicket in the next Test would be "similar to what it was in the third Test and also the second Test." And now that the cat is out of the bag, the team has nothing to lose and would like to go full throttle to end high hopes of India's willingness to get into the finals against New Zealand.
Being the big international superstars as they are, England players have a tough task at hand and it would need an exceptional balancing act between bat and ball to come good in the last Test.
And about the pitch, they should probably take a cue from opposition captain Virat Kohli who has always maintained when asked after the defeat on pitches that didn't suit India's style -- "No excuses."
-- By Ayushmaan Pandey
