Nottingham: England captain Alastair Cook has said that the pitch in the opening Test was more suited to India than his team as the match ended in a tame draw, here.
The visitors scored 457 and 391 for nine declared in their two innings while the hosts were bowled out for 496 in their only essay.
“This pitch is so unique. It was only comparable to Nagpur in 2012 when we played in India and on that pitch we had four seamers to bowl. We had a very similar wicket here and we cannot read too much into this Test match,” said Cook.
“Different pitches make cricket special and the groundsman has said he got it wrong. We just want some pace in the pitches and it wasn’t like that. These things happen because pitches are hard to make. It is important that we have the characteristics of home wickets where we can bat when the sun comes out and the ball swings under cloud cover and the nicks carry,” he added.
James Anderson was awarded the man of the match award for his maiden Test fifty wherein he scored 81 runs and put on a world record 10th wicket stand of 198 runs with Joe Root, who scored an unbeaten 154 runs himself.
Apart from them, Bhuvneshwar Kumar scored two half-centuries, while Stuart Binny and Mohammad Shami also hit maiden Test fifties. This was after Indian opener Murali Vijay set the tone with his 146 runs in the first innings, clearly showcasing that it was a completely lifeless pitch. (PTI)