England in India - Oct to Jan 2012/13

[SaiSrini]

This is Dhoni's point, right now, the way the pitches are done, win toss, bat first and you should just about win the match 9/10 times.

Lets not give too much importance to Steve Waugh's opinion. Its just that - HIS OPINION. If he was India's captain right now, even he would have wanted home advantage. He got the home advantage automatically from his home curators, so he need not have to complain about it. In India, its not as easy. The conditions play a part, sometimes politics play a part (the captain wants a certain pitch, the board orders for a certain type of pitch; sometimes home assocations of a particular stadium might force curators to prepare a certain pitch, etc).

 

[Epic]

I've came across articles quoting MS Dhoni as saying that he hated the Ahmedabad pitch and wanted a pitch on which the ball would start turning on the first day itself and that he wants the tests to end in 3-4 days. While former Australian Captain's comment (as quoted above) on that is absolutely spot on. I'd like to see the performance of Indian batters if they do make such pitch, which obviously is not good for test cricket, and has to bat last. As far as the Motera pitch is concerned, the curator is known to make sporting wickets normally. At times BCCI gets him thick of things with last minute changes in the pitch type. I remember that on this very ground, a green top pitch was made to help Indian pacers rattle the RSA batsmen few years back but it backfired as India were shot out at 76 with Dale Steyn being the star performer. Dhoni should stop ridiculing the pitch, keep his head down and concentrate on his game first.

I don't get it, how is producing turners bad for Test cricket?

England in India 2012-13 : Dhoni right to bemoan slow pitches | Cricket Features | India v England | ESPN Cricinfo

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Lets not give too much importance to Steve Waugh's opinion. Its just that - HIS OPINION. If he was India's captain right now, even he would have wanted home advantage. He got the home advantage automatically from his home curators, so he need not have to complain about it. In India, its not as easy. The conditions play a part, sometimes politics play a part (the captain wants a certain pitch, the board orders for a certain type of pitch; sometimes home assocations of a particular stadium might force curators to prepare a certain pitch, etc).

That's just ridiculous imo, the groundsman/board should support the Captain at every opportunity really.

 

[mrtwisties]

I agree with Dhoni - pitches should create an even contest between bat and ball and be fair to both sides - so it's far better to prepare a bouncy, turning wicket from day one than the drivel served up these last few days.

That said, I'm horrified by this notion that "the groundsman should serve the captain". What sport are you watching, and why is securing an advantage for the home team so important to you? No doubt the umpires should serve the captain as well! Surely the groundsman should serve the spectator, delivering a pitch that's in keeping with the traditions of the locale but which nonetheless promises a close, hard-fought match where the result is genuinely in doubt.

Or does anyone really want to follow a global sport where every team wins at home and loses abroad, and the rankings are determined mostly by who has the most home matches?

 

[aditya123]

The wicket at Mumbai won`t produce a dull game, thats for sure. It generally is anything but dull at the Wankhede. Even ODIs in Mumbai produce 250ish scores. England`s best chance would be at Mumbai, I would reckon. The Indian batting still is`nt very secure and all it would take is for the openers to get out cheaply to put them on the mat.

On another note, I have tickets for the Mumbai test and the good news is that half the tickets have already been sold out. I think people are anticipating this to be the Master`s last game at home. Anyone else going for the test?

 

[Fenil]

LOL. Do you really think that green top wicket was made for our bowlers?

Yes, at least thats what the curator was asked to do by BCCI. There was no way we could have taken 20 RSA wickets on a pata wicket. I know a senior Motera official so the story certainly holds water.

 

[angryangy]

One of the problems with the Motera wicket is that it played like it had already seen at least 3 days when the game started. There was talk among pundits and commentators around day 2 of the pitch breaking up later; but fundamentally, once a pitch is dead it can't keep breaking up.

So you really want a pitch to start harder than that and crumble in the 3rd and 4th innings; I mean even if you're the home captain, you can still lose the toss (and I'm sure Dhoni knows much about losing several tosses in a row).

I suspect however that the wicket is just not as big a turner as some of the classic Test wickets in India.

 

[Fenil]

One of the problems with the Motera wicket is that it played like it had already seen at least 3 days when the game started. There was talk among pundits and commentators around day 2 of the pitch breaking up later; but fundamentally, once a pitch is dead it can't keep breaking up.

So you really want a pitch to start harder than that and crumble in the 3rd and 4th innings; I mean even if you're the home captain, you can still lose the toss (and I'm sure Dhoni knows much about losing several tosses in a row).

I suspect however that the wicket is just not as big a turner as some of the classic Test wickets in India.

Actually, the Motera curator has always been wanting to make a sporting wicket but the India captains (past captains included) had been demanding a rank turner, so more often than not, the wickets turns out to be neither a sporting one, nor the one which would turn from the word go. That said, its not that Motera wicket haven't turn at all in the past. Spinners, particularly Harbhajan Singh has been quite successful on it and according to the curator it has to do with some red sand on the wicket. The pitch maker said Harbhajan always performs well on a wicket that has red sand on it. Thats the reason why, I posted about giving Bhajji the nod at Ahmedabad before the test began. Don't know too much technicalities of the red sand and all though.

 

[angryangy]

Yeah, soil composition is complicated. You can't make a pitch entirely out of sand, so there are other factors, particularly in the clay.

 

[Aalay]

England in India 2012-13 : Ashok Dinda to cover for injured Umesh Yadav | Cricket News | India v England | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[Gaurav_7]

Why do these 'potential' pacers for India always have to get injured? First Aaron and now Yadav. But, it's good that Dinda has come in. Otherwise, Mr. Vinay Kumar...

 

[Haarithan]

Sort of a blow if India do lose Umesh Yadav. Looked really really impressive in the first test.

 

[Fenil]

Dag Nabbit! Yadav was looking so good. Thankfully, Dinda has been amongst wickets as well in the ongoing Ranji season. He took 3 wickets against Gujarat in the second innings the other day which ended up in an unlikely draw.

 

[SaiSrini]

I guess Ishant is back in fitness, and should take Yadav's spot naturally (i.e. if India don't go with three spinners). There is something seriously wrong with India's fitness management. When is it going to change? We already have a "anytime ready to fall" Zaheer in the team. If he pulls up during the game, we are buried. Then Dhoni would have to bowl himself.

 

[Aalay]

Yes, at least thats what the curator was asked to do by BCCI. There was no way we could have taken 20 RSA wickets on a pata wicket. I know a senior Motera official so the story certainly holds water.

And did you hear about this test in which we took 20 South African wickets under 3 days.

3rd Test: India v South Africa at Kanpur, Apr 11-13, 2008 | Cricket Scorecard | ESPN Cricinfo

 

[puddleduck]

It's not rocket science that quick bowlers that are made to run in all day on dead wickets end up spending most of their career injured. Still, you can keep ignoring the obvious