'It's not like Australia. The Pongal Test doesn't happen': Ashwin laments about pitches in India

Ravichandran Ashwin , fresh off another stellar performance in India's win over Bangladesh , didn’t hold back when discussing the varied nature of pitches across the country. The veteran off-spinner, who took a crucial six-wicket haul in the final innings, made it clear that he prefers playing on red-soil tracks, which offer more bounce, over the more common black-soil surfaces seen across India in recent years.

Also Read: India Dominates Bangladesh in First Test Match In Chennai: Comprehensive Victory by 280 Runs

Ashwin talks about different types of pitches in India

India defeated Bangladesh in the first Test of their two-match series by 280 runs. Ashwin was named the Player of the Match of his all-round performance. During the post-match press conference, Ashwin explained how his ability to exploit the bounce on the red-soil pitch helped him succeed, despite the challenges posed by such wickets.

“Look, I think this pitch, even if you bowl good balls, you will go for runs. But the bounce is going to be quite daunting. The beauty about red soil is you put revs on it, there is value and there is bounce,” Ashwin told reporters in the post-match press meet.

“You play on some black clay surfaces around the country, and without naming them, you have to do a lot of hard work, put a lot of revs and see nothing come out of it.

“So, to even understand all these, and talk about it is a fair amount of learning for me. It's happened over the years. Like I said, this one's got solid bounce. I will any day play on a surface like this and get hit than play on other surfaces,” he elaborated.

Ashwin expressed his disappointment over the increasing prevalence of black-soil pitches across the country in recent years. He also challenged the widespread belief that pitches in India share a uniform nature.

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“The surfaces react very differently at different times of the year. We've lost a lot of red soil pitches over the years, which was a key component of playing Test cricket in India.” The 38-year-old pressed forth the need for keeping the variety in pitches rather than giving it a uniform character.

“Sometimes around the country, people do make the mistake of terming India as a whole. I actually think India has a lot of foreign soil in its own nature. Sometimes, you go to Eden, it doesn't feel home. Then you go to Dharamshala, all of a sudden, it doesn't feel home,” he offered.

“For some wild reason, people don't seem to assimilate this because the nature of soil is different, the weather is different.

“It's not like Australia where every Boxing Day Test match happens at Melbourne. We don't do that. The Pongal Test doesn't happen in Chennai always,” he concluded.