"Bhaad mein gaya pitch", said Shastri post winning against Proteas
India continued their dominant run as they registered their 11th consecutive Test series win at home. They whitewashed South Africa 3-0 in the just-concluded series. Meanwhile, India head coach Ravi Shastri has made a bold claim regarding the mindset of the team. Shastri said they are hardly concerned about the pitch, while playing a match. Here is what Shastri stated post the historic win.
India least concerned about the pitch
Speaking on the mindset, Shastri made it clear that the pitch is never their concern and all that they are interested is in claiming the 20 wickets and go after the points available for ICC World Test Championship. "So, the task was to take 20 wickets. How do you do that? For that, you need fast bowlers, spinners, a complete bowling unit," he said.
Shastri compares Team India with a Ferrari
"Once you take 20 wickets, with the batsmen we have, if that clicks, it's like a Ferrari. The batting line-up we have, with Rohit, Kohli, Rahane, Pujara, Mayank, if they start scoring, and then, you have five bowlers who can take 20 wickets," added Shastri.
Shastri had never counted Rahane out
Speaking on Team India's batting, while he did praise Rohit and Mayank, he also said that he had never counted out Ajinkya Rahane as he was confident of him bouncing back. "Rahane was always there, he never going anywhere as a middle-order batsman. His scene was he had to rediscover himself and he did that," he claimed.
Shastri hails Rohit and his mindset as an opener
Shastri praised Rohit's mindset as he played a composed knock on the opening day of the third Test, on a difficult pitch. "First two hours he faced everything; he had to leave the balls, was beaten, was struck on the pad, but his thinking was he needed to survive, maybe the wicket will be good to bat on after lunch," wondered Shastri.
Shastri immensely impressed with Shahbaz Nadeem's maiden Test stint
Shastri also went on to praise spinner Shahbaz Nadeem, who surprised a few legends with his smart bowling, as he compared him to former spinner Bishan Singh Bedi. "He has a classic left-arm spinner's action, he comes over the top, great wrist position, the way he gets the ball to go up in the air and dip. That was a spinner's delight," he asserted.
It's about time he [Nadeem] gets the distance: Shastri
"I never spun the ball that much, I never had that kind of loop or dip but to just watch it from the outside, it was classical. Four-hundred-and-twenty-plus wickets, the guy has put in the yards, it's about time he gets the distance," continued Shastri.
Some records scripted by Indian players in this series
Following are the records scripted by Indians in this series: Rohit became the fifth Indian to score two 150+ scores in a series, asides being the fifth Indian opener to score 500+ runs in a series. Nadeem became the fourth India bowler to claim maiden wicket via stumping. Rahane has now scored the second-most Test centuries for India batting at number five (8).
