IND vs AUS 2023: It’s the same for both teams – Rahul Dravid on pitch talk

India’s head coach Rahul Dravid has played down the ever-rising pitch talk in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series. While the tracks in the first two Test matches at Nagpur and Delhi were challenging, many cricket boffins reckon the Indore pitch was unfair.

The Indore track received a poor rating from the ICC and Dravid added that the match referee is entitled to his observation.

“The match referee is entitled to make his observation on the pitches. It doesn’t matter if I agree with his reading or not. Won’t go too much into it, that’s match referees reading. With WTC points at stake, you look to play on wickets that produce results. It can happen sometimes, not only in India but across the world as well,” said Dravid at the press conference.

Dravid added they need to learn how to bat on spin-friendly pitches as the team’s batting unit hasn’t delivered.

“The pitch looks okay, there’s been a lot of talk around pitches. Whatever it is, we have to learn to play on them. It’s the same for both teams. Sometimes it gets challenging for the bowlers, and sometimes it’s more challenging for the batters. We have to learn to adjust,” Dravid added on the pitch talk.

The former Indian number three recalled they also played on some really challenging wickets on the tour of South Africa.

“We’ve played on challenging wickets overseas as well. We played on some wickets in South Africa, where the spinner was completely taken out of the game. Everyone wants to put out wickets that can produce a result, where the ball probably has a bit more sway over the bat,” said Dravid.

Meanwhile, India was skittled out for a paltry score of 109 runs in the first innings at Indore and they were dismissed for 163 runs in the second essay. Dravid admitted that 109 was a below-par score in the first innings and also feels they let Australia score (197) more than they should have.

“109 were less in the first innings last game, 60-70 more could have made the difference. We also let Australia score more than we should have in their first innings. So, we’ll have to perform better in both areas. We’ll have to repeat our performances from the first two Tests of the series, where we played good cricket,” Dravid added.

The fourth Test match starts Thursday at the Narender Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad.