"Why do we play on such pitches?" - Aakash Chopra questions India for playing on rank turners

Aakash Chopra has questioned India for dishing out rank turners for Test matches in the last few years.

India were bowled out for 109 after opting to bat first in the third Test against Australia in Indore on Wednesday, March 1. The visitors finished Day 1 at 156/4, with a crucial 47-run first-innings lead and six wickets in hand.

While reviewing the first day's play in a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra criticized the Indore pitch, saying:

"When you see the pitch you say - why do we play on such pitches? What is happening? The biggest question is that if we play on these pitches continuously, we get the opposition team stuck almost 10 of 10 times, but you will also get stuck sometime."

Chopra highlighted that although India might be winning games more often than not on such surfaces, their batting is short of runs, elaborating:

"You don't play well, you just win, because your top order is not scoring runs at all. Only Rohit Sharma has scored runs and the situation of the rest of your top order is bad because it is difficult to score runs in these conditions."

Virat Kohli (22) was India's top run-getter on Wednesday. Barring Rohit Sharma's century in the first Test in Nagpur, none of the Indian top-order batters have reached the 50-run mark in the series thus far.

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"You have to find confidence here" - Aakash Chopra on Indian batters' struggles at home

India lost four wickets for 18 runs after Rohit Sharma was dismissed. [P/C: BCCI]

Chopra pointed out that the Indian batters need to gain confidence by scoring runs at home, observing:

"If your batters don't score runs at home and get the confidence, how will you find confidence away from home? You don't search for confidence in Australia and England. You have to find confidence here."

The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by highlighting that India cannot expect their lower order to bail them out of trouble every time, stating:

"The kind of pitches that we are dishing out - not to my liking. From January 2021 to now, the batters are suffering because they have an average of just 23. This pitch was also like that and we ourselves got stuck. Everyone got out. Axar (Patel) and (Ravichandran) Ashwin will not save you always."

Matthew Kuhnemann (5/16) ran through the Indian batting lineup. He was ably supported by Nathan Lyon (3/35) and Todd Murphy (1/23), with Mohammed Siraj getting run out.