'What's the problem with spin and bounce?'

"You've got to give India credit. They have prepared wickets that suit their style of play…We're not going to criticise the pitch right now."
South Africa coach Russell Domingo

"What's the problem with spin and bounce? It is good, even spin and bounce, isn't it? It is about skill for batsmen to play it and counter it."
India offspinner R Ashwin

"The surface was probably the toughest that I have had and the cricket itself was really difficult."
South Africa captain Hashim Amla

"I have said this before, wherever you go to play in the world, you've got to be prepared to face those conditions and tune your game accordingly… I don't know why is there so much hype created around the issue."
India captain Virat Kohli

"Nothing wrong with it [pitches produced for the Test series]…I would hope the one in Delhi is absolutely the same. I have no qualms about it."
India team director Ravi Shastri

"I think the batsman should have batted a bit better. The balls have turned there is no doubt about that. There was a lot of help for the spinners. I think it's a one-off incident. India won't produce such pitches again"
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly

"Each country has their preference in preparing surfaces to suit the strength of their team. In South Africa, over the past few seasons, we had two Test matches at Newlands where Australia and Pakistan got bowled out for less than 50. Both Tests came to a swift conclusion. There was also a Test against India at Centurion a while ago where the pitch was extremely bowler friendly and enabled the Proteas' pace battery to destroy India in double-quick time. I don't recall any negative comment about those surfaces. The reason being, the Proteas won and the surfaces were deemed good for Test cricket. When the shoe is on the other foot it is far from ideal to blame conditions for defeat and become a nation of whiners."
Former South Africa captain Kepler Wessels

"I hope I am not making a sweeping statement here, but captain Virat Kohli will have to answer history just like Douglas Jardine had to answer history for his Bodyline tactics in 1932-33."
Former India captain Bishen Singh Bedi

"I understand the point that we need to have a result-oriented pitch, which would give us result on day five but there has been absolutely nothing that's been said when the pitches in England, where Australia were dismissed for 60 and the matches finished in two-and-half or three days. I think three out of the five Test matches finished in three days, nobody had anything to say. Now we have people sitting thousands of miles away watching the odd ball blaming the pitch."

"The demons are in batsmen's mind and not in the pitch. It's a typical Indian pitch where the ball is going to turn. When you come to India, you must be prepared to show patience. You must be ready to bend down and smother the spin. When it's spinning and bouncing viciously then I will say that the pitch has got something to do with it. Show me a dismissal where the pitch has caused a batsmen's dismissal. It's terrible shots, terrible shot selection and terrible temperament"
Former India captain Sunil Gavaskar