Chepauk pitch divides Twitter; Warne credit Rohit hails Rohit's century, Vaughan calls it 'stinker'

Since the time India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane announced a day before the second Test against England that the pitch to be used was to assist spinners from the very first day, it has been a contentious issue. Rahane was right and so were all commentators who were expecting a spicier pitch for the spinners after a very flat pitch in the first Test which was rated very poorly by the Indian team.

India came under real pressure with England spinners Jack Leach and Moeen Ali producing some unplayable deliveries on the first day and former cricketers were frenzy about the quality of the pitch. 

A section of former players criticised the pitch at Chepauk, others came in defence of it and cited the lack of quality and abilities of England batsmen behind their downfall in the first innings. Notably, England were bundled out for 134 runs in the first innings as Ravichandran Ashwin bagged his 29th five-wicket haul in Test cricket.

Spin legend Shane Warne defended the pitch saying it took the unfair advantage of the toss from one team and established the difference in abilities of batsmen in either team. He praised Rohit Sharma for his remarkable innings that set the template for batsmen, while former England captain Michael Vaughan called the pitch a ‘stinker.’

Apart from Warne, two former Australians—Damien Fleming and Mark Waugh criticised the pitch and rated it substandard in terms of a Test match pitch.

Batting first after Virat Kohli won the toss, India put on 329 runs in their first innings on the back of a blistering hundred from Rohit Sharma and sizeable contributions from Ajinkya Rahane and Rishabh Pant. In reply, England bundled out for 134 runs and handed India a lead of 195 runs.