Spin legend Shane Warne and celebrated commentator batted for India after the Chennai pitch for the second Test against England dominated the online discourse.
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Seeking to level the four-match Test series after their defeat in the opener, the Indian spinners, especially Ravichandran Ashwin, had the English batsmen on the ropes on the second day of the second match on a pitch that is offering the tweakers vicious turn and bounce.
In reply to India's first innings total of 329, England were dismissed for 134 then conceded a lead of 249 runs with the hosts reaching 54/1 in the second innings before the close of play on Sunday.
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"No one said a word about the pitch when India had no chance." With these words spin legend Shane Warne silenced former England captain Michael Vaughan who had slammed the surface used for the second Test at Chepauk.
It all started with a tweet by Vaughan after the England innings began to crumble in reply to India's first-innings total of 329 all out.
"It's entertaining cricket as things are happening all the time but let's be honest this Pitch is a shocker .. Not making any excuses as India have been better but this isn't a Test Match 5 day prepared Pitch ..." Vaughan tweeted.
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In response, Warne pointed out that India opener Rohit Sharma, with his brilliant 161 on the first day, Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant showed how to bat on this kind of a surface and added that the conditions have been same for both the teams.
"Come on maaaaaate! The last few days of the 1st test, the wicket started exploding & no one said a word about the pitch when India had no chance. At least this test it's been the same for both teams from ball one. Eng bowled poorly & Rohit, Pant and Jinx showed how to bat," Warne wrote.
In another post on the social networking site, the Australian spin great said, "There's no diff between the ball seaming/spinning to much. We always want a fair contest between bat/ball."
"India have batted & bowled better than Eng in this match - simple. Conditions have been the same for both sides from ball one. But this is excessive & in favour of the ball."
Bhogle also reacted to a comment by former England cricketer Simon Hughes, who asked ICC to dock ICC World Test Championship "points for this pitch. It’s a sandpit. Makes batting a lottery".
"No Simon, it makes batting a skill. It is when the going is tough that you discover who is up for it. There are greentops and trampolines and dusty pitches but that is why playing away is a challenge. India won Lords, England won Mumbai. You can't become great by complaining," wrote Bhogle in his reply.
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Earlier, Vaughan, who is quite active on social media, had said, "It didn't do anywhere near as much for 2 sessions ... Spun but not like what it's doing now ... India would have drawn the first Test if they had batted anything like in the 1st innings ... This isn't a good Test match pitch."
On his part, Warne reiterated that India played better on the first two days.
"The toss was more important to win in the 1st test than this one, as it did nothing the 1st 2 days. Then exploded. This one has been a turner from ball one.
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"Eng should've bowled India out for 220. No different between spinning or seaming & Rohit showed how to play on this surface," Warne said.
Meanwhile, former England batsman Kevin Pietersen thought it was brave on India's part to prepare a rank turner of this kind.
"Such a brave wicket to prepare for a Test match In India when India are down in the series. If India had lost the toss, they'd have gone down 2-0. Very very brave! Well tossed, @imVkohli," Pietersen tweeted.
