English off-spinner Graeme Swann said that there is nothing strange in Mahendra Singh Dhoni demands for turning tracks in the ongoing Test series against, says a report in The Indian Express.
"It is not strange for a home team to ask for a wicket to suit their team. We do that when we play in England because we want it to suit our bowlers. The fact that we have won the last two Tests is a testimony about how well we have played and not a lot to do about the pitch," Swann said.
Swann praised the Eden Gardens wicket, he said, “I don't know if anyone could look at that wicket we just played on and actually call it a rank turner from day one. It was a very good Test wicket and did very little for the spinners or the pacers on the first two days, gradually broke as the game went on and was turning quite nicely by the end. Any obsession with the pitch has been banished by that because Kolkata produced an exceptional Test pitch.”
"I obviously don't know who is talking about the pitch, whether it is the press. We don't read the press in the changing room. We have missed out on a lot of that," he added.
On the Nagpur track, the venue for the last Test, Swann said, “I don't know, I haven't seen the pitch yet. We went straight out to the nets. It doesn't matter what you believe because the pitch is going to be the pitch. I am sure the management and coach will look at it and they will assess it. We play on it whatever comes on Thursday. It is normally a good pitch here and I am expecting it to be that,"
Meanwhile, the Daily Mail report says that the most pleasing aspect of England’s transformation is that they have triumphed both on a raging turner in Mumbai and a flat surface in Kolkata.
‘It would have been very easy to get into a rut after Ahmedabad, of losing games and thinking about going home rather than winning the next one. A lot of focus and energy went into ensuring that this tour wasn’t going to be like that,” Swann said.
“It was made very clear after the first Test, whether it came from management or senior players, that Mumbai was a chance to level the series and anybody who didn’t see it that way wasn’t welcome in the dressing room. We probably approached the tour a bit different this time. We have tried to embrace India and believed that we could win this series. I’m not sure that’s always been the case here. I’ve only been on one other Indian tour but there certainly seemed more belief from the outset on this one,” he added.