The Indian captain says pitches in his country are being unfairly criticized after the match in Cape Town ended in record time.

India cricket captain Rohit Sharma has slammed critics of Indian pitches after his side recorded their fastest-ever victory in a Test match by defeating South Africa by seven wickets in four-and-a-half sessions of the five-day game.

India’s victory over hosts South Africa on one Seam surface with variable bounce at Newlands After the hosts won the first Test, they ended the two-match series with a 1-1 draw.

Speaking to reporters after the win in Cape Town on Thursday, Rohit called for a review of pitch evaluation as he claimed India was receiving undue criticism.

India’s victory made the Test match the shortest ever in terms of balls bowled in a win, after the visitors set the tone when they bowled out the home team for 55 before lunch on the first day, helped largely by player of the match Mohammed Siraj, who took six wickets for 15 runs in the first innings.

The next best from Markram’s teammates in both innings was 15.

Rohit described the conditions as dangerous but added that he had no problem playing on such surfaces as long as it was accepted that Indian pitches would change from day one.

“I don’t mind being on such pitches as long as everyone in India keeps their mouths shut and no one talks about the pitches there,” Rohit told reporters.

“Yes, it is dangerous, but you come here (South Africa) to challenge yourself and you have to face it.”

Rohit believes that the way referees judge pitches in different countries is inconsistent.

“In India, on the first day, people say: ‘Oh, there’s a cloud of dust’.” We have to remain neutral, especially the referees. I would like to see how the pitches are rated.

“I still can not believe it [Cricket] World Cup final [in Ahmedabad] was rated below standard. A player [Australia’s Travis Head] I have a hundred there. They need to evaluate pitches based on what they see, not based on countries.”

Rohit added that there should be no difference in evaluating a pitch based on spin or seam on the first day.

“We know the pitches in India rotate but people don’t like it because it rotates from the first ball. But if it comes from ball one, is that okay? That’s not fair.”

A fiery Jasprit Bumrah conjured up his third five-wicket haul of the Tests in South Africa to help India win 🔥#SAvIND #WTC25 pic.twitter.com/0cECYG0pCC

– ICC (@ICC) January 4, 2024

Low scoring spectacle

Meanwhile, South Africa stand-in captain Dean Elgar bowed out of Test cricket on the losing side but said he had ended a “little journey” with “amazing memories” as an international cricketer.

After 23 wickets fell on the first day, the second morning saw a battle between Aiden Markram and India’s Jasprit Bumrah.

Apart from Markram, who hit 106 off 103 balls in South Africa’s second innings of 176, the batsmen struggled with pace, seam movement and inconsistent delivery throughout the game on the field.

The Indian bowler took six for 61 – and was denied the wicket of Markram when the batsman rounded a drive on 71 and wicketkeeper KL Rahul failed to keep a catch over his head.

Markram braved a pitch on which Virat Kohli made the second-highest individual score of 46 in India’s first innings, but South Africa were bowled out for 176 runs in their second innings by lunch. That left India with a tricky chase of 79 on a pitch with variable bounce.

Opener Yashasvi Jaiswal scored a quick-fire 28 off 23 balls with six boundaries. He was caught at long leg by Nandre Burger.

Rohit survived two dropped catches and ended up remaining unbeaten with 17 not out.

Kagiso Rabada bowled Shubman Gill for 10 and ended the short series with 11 wickets.

Marco Jansen defeated Virat Kohli for 12 runs as India moved four runs away from their fifth win on South African soil. Five balls later, Shreyas Iyer hit a boundary to seal the historic win.