We don’t curate pitches, we play with what we’re provided: Assistant coach Abhishek Nayar

India's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar backs struggling legends Kohli and Sharma, emphasizing patience and support for their comeback.

India's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar on Wednesday (October 30, 2024) insisted that they do not ask for tailor-made pitches in Tests and also backed out-of-form legends Virat Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma, saying that they must be given "space and time to come back".

After copping first-ever Test series loss at home in 12 years, India will strive to salvage their pride when they clash with New Zealand in the third and final Test from Friday (November 1, 2024).

Playing on a track that assisted spinners, India lost the Pune Test by 113 runs. It is being speculated that the pitch at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai could again favour the spinners.

Nayar refuted suggestions that turning tracks are being made at the best of the team.

"I wish we could curate pitches, but we don't. The curators do. Whatever we're provided with, we go on and play (whether) that'd be a pitch that seamed or a pitch that turned," Nayar said on eve of of the final Test.

"As cricketers and as a team, we try and play what we're provided with. We don't try and get conditions according to what we want."

Both Rohit and Kohli are woefully out of form, and that has impacted team's performance.