There were certain doubts prior to the initiation of India’s only practice match against Essex as the pitch condition was reportedly deemed to be unsatisfactory. Too much grass was left on the pitch and hence there was certain tension surrounding the camp.

However, Ravi Shastri, India’s head coach has rebuffed any sort of complaints and made it clear that the current Indian team won’t raise questions over the provided pitch. He said that he maintains a philosophy of accepting the given pitch conditions, and then expects the opposition to do the same whenever they tour India too.

Shastri has said that his team will not make excuses for their performances throughout the course of the Test series, and they would take challenges as presented. He reportedly remarked, “My philosophy is very simple- in your country, I don’t ask questions. I said (to the groundsmen) leave it and don’t take anything off.”

The Indian team had previously struggled while adapting to the challenging pitch conditions in England, but Shastri’s assurance that the team would refrain from giving any excuses is quite refreshing, to be honest. It marks a new, fearless era of Indian cricket and the team would be eager to back their words with the appropriate actions. Virat Kohli personally would want to improve upon his individual performances in England. Accordingly, his performances would play a huge factor in the team’s eventual outcome too.