Former England captain Michael Vaughan criticises Indian pitch again

Former England captain Michael Vaughan was once again critical of the pitches India have prepared for their four-match series with England as the hosts were skittled out by the part-time spin of Joe Root on day two of the third Test.

Vaughan was highly critical of the pitch prepared for the second Test in Chennai, when India cruised to a 317-run win, but his words fell on deaf Indian ears as fans and pundits claimed his words were just sour grapes.

As Root and Jack Leach tore through the Indian batting line up in Ahmedabad, however, Vaughan sensed an opportunity to reiterate his point.

England captain Joe Root celebrates a wicket on his way to his first-ever five-for in Test cricket

Frontline batsman Rishabh Pant was one of the five batsmen removed by Root on day two

‘Well well well,’ he tweeted. ‘I wouldn’t want to be chasing 100 batting last… Let’s be honest this is not a 5 day Test pitch !!’

Goading Indian fans hitting back at him on Twitter as fellow Yorkshireman Root took the wickets of Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Axar Patel, Ravi Ashwin and Jasprit Bumrah, Vaughan added: ‘Indian batsman can’t play off spinners from Yorkshire !!’

Ashwin, who was man of the match in the series-levelling win in Chennai with eight wickets and a century to his name, had responded to Vaughan’s criticism of the pitch before the third Test. 

‘I’m completely fine with people having opinions, because we’ll also have our opinion when we tour abroad,’ Ashwin said.

‘But we don’t complain or crib, we just get on with it. I’ve never seen any of our greats talk about pitches having a lot of grass, or all these things.

‘When people come out with such opinion, we should respect them but should be able to magnanimously deflect them away. 

‘It was not like some amazing balls got the wickets, it was more the balls that followed them, or the mind game that was being played.’