India batting coach Vikram Rathour reacted to the Indore Test pitch after 14 wickets fell on the first day at the Holkar Stadium on Wednesday.
India got bowled out for 109 inside two sessions after which Australia posted 156 for 4 to take a lead of 47 runs by the end of the day's play.
The pitch at Indore started turning from the get-go which is why the host batter's struggled but Rathore refused to blame the wicket for the performance and instead, said that the team had an "off day" with the bat.
He also acknowledged that the venue did not have much time to prepare the wicket properly as Indore was assigned the third Test only days after the match was shifted out of Dharamsala.
'Pitch was challenging'
"It was definitely challenging, it did more than we expected. It was turning sharply due to the moisture in the morning. We could have scored more runs on it, definitely we would have liked to score more.
"But I don't think anybody played poor cricket or any rash shots. We just had an off day as a batting unit. More runs would have been good but it was a tough wicket," Rathour told reporters after the day's play.
Virat Kohli and Shubman Gill were the only two India batters who managed to score more than 20 runs while the rest all failed to cope with the turn and low bounce on the wicket.
Pressure of WTC behind pitches favouring home teams
When asked about why the curators are preparing pitches like these, Rathour said that the pressure of competing and winning matches in the ICC World Test Championship is getting to home teams which is why the pitches are prepared to favour the hosts even more now than ever.
"Ever since the ICC has introduced the World Test Championship, there’s more pressure to win home matches," Rathour said.
Rathour also spoke about the misjudgement in length by Cheteshwar Pujara, but defended Rohit Sharma's aggressive style of play, saying it usually paid off for him.
He also stated that while the Indian team preferred to play on turning tracks, they are aware that it can be challenging and require good batting skills.
