Playing on rank-turners for WTC points at home backfired on India, says Cheteshwar Pujara

India’s former veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara feels playing on rank-turners for WTC points at home backfired on India in the previous WTC cycle. While India registered a 2-0 win against Bangladesh, they suffered a 3-0 series loss against New Zealand in the home conditions.

Indian batters struggled to deliver the goods on spin-friendly pitches and the Kiwis were able to dominate the hosts. Rohit Sharma’s team was in a shoo-in position to qualify for the World Test Championship final but the series loss against the Blackcaps was a big blow to them.

Furthermore, India suffered a 3-1 series loss against Australia in the Border-Gavaskar series while playing away.

“I thought it had a big impact on Indian batting and Test cricket as a whole. The reason those kinds of tracks were prepared was because of the World Test Championship, where teams wanted results from every game. But I don’t think that was ideal for Test cricket,” Pujara said in an exclusive interview with India Today.

“Going forward, I’m sure the management and everyone involved has realized that when you prepare such surfaces, a batter needs a lot of luck to score runs. Your skills often get taken out of the game, and you’re forced to play bravely, looking to score quick 40s, 50s, or 60s-whatever you can manage,” Pujara said.

The former Saurashtra batter said India should look to prepare sporting pitches as playing on rank-turners doesn’t help.

“I think things are changing now. Most teams are playing on better pitches, and I hope India also continues to do so. I’m not saying the ball shouldn’t turn-it should-but matches shouldn’t finish in three or three-and-a-half days. Ideally, we should be playing on good pitches where games last into the fourth or fifth day,” Pujara added.

India recently drew the series against England 2-2 while playing away.