Pitch debate is beyond Kohli’s understanding

Ahead of the third Test against South Africa, starting in Nagpur on Wednesday, India captain Virat Kohli doesn't understand why there are questions about what type of surface the teams will play on.

The pitch condition has been a hot talking point in the series so far since India won the first Test in Mohali on a surface that was breaking up on the first day.

The hosts feel their best chance of beating the Proteas is to make the pitch as slow as possible and negate the strength of the visitors, which is the fast bowling.

The topic has irritated Kohli throughout the series, with the India skipper saying previously that they do not complain when touring overseas.

Kohli said: "That wicket debate is out of my understanding. I don't know why there is so much (hue and) cry about the wickets in India. We absolutely have no problems in playing on this sort of a wicket.

"If both teams don't agree on playing on a particular wicket, then it is not suited for a game of cricket. But we have no problems.

"We haven't had any sort of talk about the track. Whoever wants to talk about the track is free to talk about it.

"As I said, we will decide a combination according to how the wicket will play over a span of five days and not how it looks for the first time."

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