'Home teams should play to their strength'

Indian team director Ravi Shastri didn’t dwell too much into the Wankhede pitch controversy involving himself and curator Sudhir Naik but maintained that there was nothing wrong in home teams playing to their strengths.

“I haven’t seen the pitch as yet,” said Shastri when asked about the surface for the first Test here against South Africa, particularly in the background of the unsavoury episode in Mumbai. “And as far as perception (of pitches suiting home teams) goes, I believe, at home you should play to your strength. There is no need to hide behind the issue. It’s been happening over the years, wherever teams have played. In their own countries (they play to their strengths), it’s something that you expect,” he offered.

When asked about his reported spat with Naik in Mumbai, Shastri said: “The incident was one week ago. That’s history. Let’s talk what’s happening now. I have spoken enough about it, and I have not a word to add and not a word to subtract from what I said.”

Shastri was asked why does it become so controversial when India demand for a particular type of pitch while teams like England, Australia or South African teams get what they want without a fuss.

“Unfortunately I am sitting here otherwise I would have loved to rephrase that question to you,” he remarked.

“Honestly, I have been in the media for a long time and I have asked the same question. So, we will have to wait and see. You don’t go to South Africa and look at their attack or Australia and expect the pitch to turn on day one. You mentioned England and England woke up because they lost the first Test (in 2013). Then they woke up big time and you saw the difference.”