Often, teams come to India and complain about the pitch favouring spinners and not offering much to pacers. But, the Edgbaston pitch was flat, with not much for offer for pacers, especially once the ball gets a little old. After the historic 336-run win at Edgbaston, Birmingham, India captain Shubman Gill criticised the flat pitch as he believes it did not offer a balance between bat and ball.
"It gets very difficult for the bowlers. Even more than the pitch, the ball is going soft and out of shape very quickly. I don't know what it is - weather, pitches or whatever - but it gets very difficult for the bowlers to get wickets in these conditions. As a team, when you know it is difficult to get wickets and runs are coming easily, a lot of things are out of your control," Gill said in the post-match press conference on July 6.
"I think there should be a little help at least. If the ball is doing something, you enjoy playing. If you know there is only 20 overs of any help and then you have to spend the rest of the day on the defensive, thinking how to stop runs, then the game loses its essence," he added.
On a flat track, Gill was impressed with Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep delivering for the team in the absence of Jasprit Bumrah. He ran short of words to praise Siraj and Deep.
"Both of them took 16-17 wickets. That itself is a big, big achievement coming into this Test match, especially without Jasprit [Bumrah] bhai. There were a lot of questions if we would be able to take those 20 wickets. And the way these two guys delivered was just outstanding. I have no words to describe," he said.
Gill sees the silver-lining
However, Gill was happy that Ben Stokes won the toss and decided to bat first. He has not been part of many Tests which have been played over five days.
"Definitely helped us in a massive way. I would say not many Test matches when we play in India go for five days. But luckily most of the days when we are playing here we are batting and not fielding, so that's good for us. Even in the first innings, I think we fielded for about 90 overs, which is about a day. So I think that's good. I think even in the series, in the upcoming matches, if you're able to score runs consistently and post around 400 or 300 totals, we will always be in the game," he said.
Gill chasing Bradman's record
Meanwhile, Gill is chasing Don Bradman's record created in 1930. He has a chance to become the first ever batter to score 1,000 runs in a five-Test series. Bradman had scored 974 runs in Ashes 1930.