Coimbatore, Oct 14: Praising the New Zealand side for coming up with an impressive performance in the drawn first cricket test, legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev today blamed India's slow run rate for its failure to force a win at Ahmedabad. "Do not look for any excuses. Indians are playing on the same pitches for the last 40 to 50 years," Kapil Dev told reporters here in an obvious reference to Indian skipper Sourav Ganguly's criticism of the placid Motera track for the draw.
"It was also very sad Indians, who had played a lot of one-day cricket, failed to score more than 350 runs in a day in Test matches," he said.
"India should have maintained an average of more than 3.5 runs per over, instead of below three runs."
"We have played on the same pitches for the last so many years. Moreover, the Kiwis also played better cricket."
Citing examples of pitches in England, South Africa and Australia, Kapil said efforts should be made to prepare tracks in India which could produce results in five days of Test cricket.
Bureau Report