India are all set to play their fourth and final Test against England from Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Motera, and there is a high possibility that we will not see the pitch behaving any differently from the last Test match, which India won emphatically to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
Even though the track is expected to be spin-friendly, India Vice-Captain Ajinkya Rahane felt the situation might differ because it's not going to be played with a pink ball.
"The wicket will be pretty similar but yes the pink ball made the difference. The pink ball was coming much quicker off the wicket comparatively to the red ball and it was skidding on. Having said that, we will have to wait and see how the pitch plays this time," Rahane said.
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Rahane insisted that there was too much being talked about the wicket. Even though both India and England batters didn't quite click in the viciously turning track of Motera, Rahane felt the criticism was unnecessary.
"We haven't played a lot of games in India in the last 2-3 years. This was our 3rd Test with the pink ball. I don't really care what people say about turning tracks because when we travel outside India we are served with viciously seaming and bouncy tracks. We never complain. Be it a spinning or seaming wicket, all you just have to do is play the line without thinking too much. Backing your defence on such wickets is the key," Rahane added.
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India need to win or draw this Test to qualify for the Test World Championship Final at Lord's, scheduled to start from June 18. Echoing his colleague Ishant Sharma's thoughts that winning the Test Championship would be as good as winning the World Cup, Rahane said, "Ishant is absolutely right. Winning the Test Championship Final will be equivalent to winning the World Cup. Having said that our focus right now is to win this Test match and think about World Championship later."