NEW DELHI: India's team director Ravi Shastri has defended the dry, spin-friendly wickets prepared for the Test series against South Africa, saying batsmen should be blamed instead for not playing well.
"Nothing wrong with it," Shastri told the Cricinfo website ahead of the fourth and final Test at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi from Thursday.
"I would hope the one in Delhi is absolutely the same. I have no qualms about it."
India enjoy a decisive 2-0 lead in the four-match series after clinching low-scoring wins in the first Test in Mohali and the third in Nagpur. The second Test in Bangalore was washed out after the first day.
Several former Test captains like Michael Vaughan of England called the under-prepared Nagpur pitch "diabolical" on which batting was difficult from the first day as the ball turned and kept low.
India's last five wins at home since 2013 have all been achieved inside three days, indicating pitches were tailor-made for their spinners.
Off-break bowler Ravichandran Ashwin has taken 24 South African wickets in five innings so far in the series.
Shastri laid the blame for the low totals in the series -- India's 215 in the first innings at Nagpur is the highest so far -- on the inability of batsmen to graft on difficult pitches.
"It just goes to show that with the amount of one-day cricket being played, the tendency to graft, the tendency to spend long hours at the crease is diminishing," the former opener and left-arm spinner said.
"Which rule tells me that a ball can't turn on day one? Where does it tell me in the rule book it can only swing and seam? Here, at times, I think unless you play on these tracks you won't know how to play on these tracks."
Shastri refused to accept criticism of inconsistent bounce in the pitch at Nagpur from the first day.
"Where was inconsistent bounce?," Shastri asked. "It was fine. It was only later on by the end of the second or the third day when the ball started keeping low."
Shastri also said he was not worried at the trend of Test matches finishing inside three days -- the inaugural day-night match between Australia and New Zealand in Adelaide also lasted the same distance on Sunday.
"Nothing wrong with matches finishing inside three days," he said, adding the Nagpur game was much more enjoyable to watch than the recent Perth Test which ended in a tame draw.
"The Nagpur Test was moving all the time. You compare this Test to the match in Perth. To hell with the five days."
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