Michael Vaughan finally shifts focus from pitch, praises Team India 

Former England captain Michael Vaughan praised the Indian team on Thursday for their solid bowling effort on Day 1 of the fourth Test in Ahmedabad. The 46-year-old has been an active critic of pitches for the India-England series,

India dominated England on Day 1 of the red-ball Test. The visitors were held to 205, batting first after winning the toss.

Taking to his Twitter account, Michael Vaughan admitted that India played better under the given conditions. He also conceded that the pitch did not trouble the batsmen too much. Vaughan wrote:

“India today with the ball showed why they are so good in these conditions ... Pitch did very little for 60 overs and they completely out skilled & out thought England ... !! High class ... England with the Bat were very very average ... #INDvENG”

In one of his earlier tweets, the former England skipper had described the visitors' batting effort as 'terrible'. He added that no excuses could be given for such a poor batting show.

Experienced all-rounder Ben Stokes top-scored for England with 55 while Dan Lawrence contributed a defiant 46.

The Indian spin duo of Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin kept chipping away at the wickets. While Axar finished with four scalps, Ashwin claimed three.

India today with the ball showed why they are so good in these conditions ... Pitch did very little for 60 overs and they completely out skilled & out thought England ... !! High class ... England with the Bat were very very average ... #INDvENG

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 4, 2021

When Michael Vaughan took on Virat Kohli

A day before the start of the fourth Test, Michael Vaughan took a dig at Indian captain Virat Kohli. The latter had claimed that “Indians do well because they don’t crib about pitches”.

At the pre-match press conference, Kohli bashed pitch critics, stating that there was unnecessary hullabaloo over spinning surfaces in India. He said:

“The reason for our success is we haven’t cribbed about any of the pitches we have played on, and we would continue to play like that as a team moving forward as well. It has always been the case - spinning tracks come into focus way more, and when the ball seams on a particular pitch and teams get bundled out for 40, 50 or 60.. no one writes about the pitch."

Responding to Kohli’s statement, Michael Vaughan tweeted:

“Pretty sure the Groundsman was sacked after the 1st Test because the pitch was too flat!!!!! Isn’t that cribbing about a pitch?? #JustAsking?.”

We take one wicket before stumps on Day 1 in Ahmedabad.Scorecard: https://t.co/s29YdA4vqc#INDvENG pic.twitter.com/9poL9qTfRm

— England Cricket (@englandcricket) March 4, 2021

India ended Day 1 of the fourth Test at 24 for 1, with Shubman Gill being dismissed for a duck by James Anderson. Rohit Sharma was unbeaten on 8 and Cheteshwar Pujara on 15.