Ravichandran Ashwin: Who defines a good surface?

With the third Test match played with pink ball under lights concluding in two days the pitch at the newlyinaugurated Narendra Modi Stadium has become a hot topic of discussionAfter India skipper Virat Kohli and limitedovers vicecaptain Rohit Sharma defended the Motera pitch Ravichandran Ashwin on Saturday went on the offensive when a British journalist asked whether it was a good Test match pitch ldquoI have a question back What is a good cricket surfacerdquoThe scribe replied ldquoA good contest between bat and ballrdquolsquoWe need to get over itrsquoAshwin responded ldquoYes of course The bowler wants to win the game The batsman needs to bat well to get runs No question about it What makes a good surface Who defines this Seam on the first day and then bat well and then spin on the last two days Come on Who makes all these rules we need to get over it and not talk about whatever picture you want to paintldquoIf yoursquore asking if it is a good Test surface I donrsquot see any of the players coming from England having an issue with the surface They want to improve they look like they want to have a contest Is it the players and the people who are reporting back that want their players to not compete and complain about the pitches We have never done that on any of the toursrdquo The conversation did not end there The scribe followed up with another question ldquoHoping for a similar surface in the next TestrdquoldquoIt depends on what yoursquore hoping for We are hoping for a good cricket matchrdquo said Ashwin ldquoMost people hope for a good cricket matchrdquo the reporter remarked to which Ashwin shot back ldquoOf course thatrsquos what you should be hoping for and not make this about the surfacerdquoIt is clear that Ashwinrsquos series of cryptic tweets on Friday where he used words like ldquooutbound marketingrdquo and ldquoselling of productsrdquo were targeted towards the pitch talk The Indian offie who became the second fasted to achieve the landmark of 400 Test wickets during the third Test made it clear that his tweets were not in response to Yuvraj Singhrsquos tweet in which the former India allrounder reckoned that Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh would have ended up with 1000 and 800 wickets respectively had they played on pitches like MoteraldquoI think people need to get the context of whatrsquos happening here There have been some people who have messaged me and said the match has finished in two days What about all the three pinkball Test matches wersquove played everythingrsquos ended within three daysrsquo time I do not know what to say because when somebody just throws an opinion out there about the surface having played the game unfortunately maybe they have not played the pinkball Test matches so they do not understand this facet of the gameldquoMy angst against the whole thing is the fact that when people say something there are so many of them who are watching the same picture but are not able to paint a different one compared to somebody who is driving and selling a certain case to us and this needs to stoprdquo Ashwin saidldquoI do not know the reason behind why people sell certain things but itrsquos clear Itrsquos just a perception of what happens For me I want to protect at least I want to try and put it out there that people who know me or watch me talk at least realise that without their knowledge theyrsquore actually being hypnotised to believing what theyrsquore buyingrdquo he addedBowlers not given creditAshwin made his disappointment known in cases when the pitch gets the credit if bowlers dominate a match ldquoWith thoughts what happens is you condition people to believing a certain thing or way You watch a match you watch India win a game At the most everyone is saying lsquoIrsquom happy India won the game itrsquos a great feelingrsquo You donrsquot want people to go back home and say lsquoItrsquos the pitch thatrsquos winning the gamersquo Thatrsquos what I donrsquot want people to dordquo he concluded