India vs England: 'Lost World Cup due to obsession with pitch', Aakash Chopra warns against rank-turners for Test series

Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra believes India shouldn’t be preparing rank turners for the upcoming Test series against England, providing a stark reminder that it was the hosts’ obsession with the pitch that cost them the ODI World Cup final against Australia last year.  The first Test is scheduled to take place in Hyderabad starting on Thursday. “The biggest question ahead of the series is should rank turners be made? I am saying and have been saying for a long time - you lost the World Cup final also due to your obsession with the pitch. Preparing a pitch favouring you cost you the finals,” Chopra told on his YouTube channel. “You might say this is a different format. It’s not about the format but the habit. You become complacent. Just give one instruction to the curator - make a pitch that yields a result. It shouldn’t be a road-like pitch,” added the 46-year-old. For the ODI World Cup final in Ahmedabad in November last year, the curators had prepared a dry pitch. India had won the toss and opted to bat first, hoping that the pitch would offer some turn later on in the game. However, as it turned out, the track became better to bat on under lights as the dew came into effect, and Australia would go onto chase India’s 240-run total. Meanwhile, India head coach Rahul Dravid also felt that the Hyderabad pitch would start offering turn as the game progresses. “How quickly and how fast, I’m not sure. But it might spin a little bit certainly as the game goes on,” Dravid had said on Tuesday. Chopra predicted India to win the series irrespective of the margin. “The scales are obviously tilted towards India and they will only win this series. The question is whether it would be 4-0, 5-0 or 4-1. However, which match will they (England) win and how will they take 20 wickets because the spin attack is extremely weak?”, said Chopra. “I don’t see any might in the spin bowling. So, if you don’t make turning pitches, you can score 500 runs against them at least thrice over the course of the series and maybe more. I feel you will win this series easily,” added the right-handed batter.