There has been plenty of talk about India’s decision to prepare pitches that turn from day one for the ongoing series against Australia. While big names from the cricketing world like Ian Chappell, Shane Warne and even India’s very own Bishen Singh Bedi have been highly critical of the home team’s decision to ‘doctor’ pitches to suit their spinners, another point of view states that there is no harm in India preparing surfaces to suit their style of play at home. While both sides have a fair point, one just wonders whether there has been unnecessary hype over the issue.
It is one thing about India preparing vicious tracks and a completely different factor about the hosts exploiting the same. Something similar happened during the series against England, when MS Dhoni openly demanded for pitches that turned from day one of the Test. The result? It was England who benefited immensely and romped home to a historic win. While preparing rank turners for the series, Dhoni and his men did not realise that they were kicking themselves in their own foot. Without doubt Monty Panesar and Graeme Swann, were much superior to R. Ashwin and Pragyan Ojha, talent wise as well as on the experience count. Also, while asking for pitches that turned square Dhoni forgot that his batsmen are not that good as they were a decade or so ago.
The England series is a clear lesson that if India indeed go on to win the series against the Aussies, it will be because they have better players to exploit the conditions, and not only because so called ‘doctored’ pitches have been prepared for the series. There is nothing unfair as such in any pitch. Both teams will be playing on the same surface. If anything, luck can play a factor, with one team getting the better conditions to bat on and the other having to deal with the tougher prospects. That again is applicable to pitches all around the world.
Players from the touring Aussie squad themselves haven’t complained about the conditions on offer. In fact, they are taking up as a serious challenge. Hence, there is no point about the ex-players feeling disappointed. Australia have a lot of spinners in their own squad, and if they feel the pitches are heavily loaded in favour of the spinners, they too can try and pack their bowling side with the same. If they aren’t doing the same, it points to the fact that they aren’t confident of their slower bowlers succeeding in the conditions on offer. It is a fact that Aussie spinners aren’t in the same league as Panesar and Swann.
Critics may argue that playing on such humungously spinning pitches may not help India when they go abroad. On the contrary, if they prepare sporting pitches at home, they may start losing frequently in India as well. Each country offers unique conditions and, as Moises Henriques aptly puts it, that’s the beauty and the challenge of playing Test cricket around the world.
--By A Cricket Analyst
