‘Demon not in surface, in batsmen's mind’

Former India skipper Sunil Gavaskar on Thursday defended the nature of Jamtha track, saying it is poor "technique" of the batsmen and not any "demon" in the pitch that resulted in South Africa being bundled out for a paltry 79 during the third cricket Test here.

Proteas registered their lowest score after entering the International arena post the aparthied era as a record 20 wickets fell on Day 2 of the third Test at the VCA Stadium.

"Can we not actually be absolutely upright and question the technique of the batsman of both the teams. Why are we shying away from that and blaming the pitch? It is a typical Indian pitch where the ball is going to turn. The demons are there in the batsmen's mind, the demon is not in the surface," Gavaskar said.