India vs South Africa 2015: Prepare turners, but not at the cost of losing balance

Vijay’s 40 in the 1^st innings was the match’s highest score

”Surfaces like Nagpur is good once in a while, but preparing those kinds of surfaces for every series would never test players skill in various aspects”

So, there it is. This is the fifth Test match in India out of the last six Tests that has ended inside three days. The Test match between Australia and India at Delhi was wrapped up in three days, and in the next home series against West Indies, India wrapped up the two-Test series inside three days. Now, the third Test at The VCA stadium has ended in three days.

But how different was the previous series compared to the current series against South Africa? Why there’s a question mark over pitches in the current series? Was the surface at Nagpur was unplayable?

There are plenty of questions to answer. To start off with, the wickets that were provided during the home series against Australia in 2013 were not vicious turners, and were not difficult to set batsmen. The players who applied themselves went on to score some runs. Michael Clarke’s hundred at Chepauk was a clear example of it as he was able to judge the pace and bounce of the wicket (though the pitch looked ugly).

Secondly, the home team’s batsman were able to score runs consistently as MS Dhoni scored a fabulous double hundred at Chepauk, and Pujara was brilliant in Hyderabad. Also, the wickets were good for batting at the start with some assistance to spinners, and later from day 3, it started to break up, and posed problems to the batsmen. The fast bowlers also played an important role in the series and therefore, there was no question of overdoing the home advantage.

Also, during the 2012 home series against England, even though India got a dry wicket at Mumbai and Kolkata, there was some assistance for the fast bowlers on day 1 and it also had consistent pace and bounce. James Anderson was getting the ball to nip back-off the seam at Mumbai and Kolkata, Steve Finn and Stuart Broad were getting some decent amount of bounce from the wicket, and the spinners were also in the game. Thus, these are the kinds of pitches that really test various skills of a player and keep everyone in the game.

3-day Tests

But what has happened in this particular series is vicious turn from day one with variable bounce. The Mohali pitch was a lot dry to assist spinners from ball one and the Nagpur wicket was turning viciously from day one with variable bounce. When you play on such wickets, it will be very difficult for even a set batsman to carry on. They will have to wait for a real-bad delivery to score runs.

Look at Amla and Faf in the fourth innings, even though they applied themselves they were not able to cash in. There were too many play and misses, and few edges didn’t quite carry to the close-in fielders.

As a batsman when you are faced with this kind of situation, you would be more tentative about your shot selection. The reason is if you are looking to drive the ball and the ball stops, you are in trouble. Even if you are looking to play off the back-foot, and the ball stops before coming on to the bat, you are in trouble.

Also, when you are looking to play off the back-foot and if the ball keeps low, then you are in trouble. AB de Villers dismissals off Jadeja, Pujara’s dismissal against JP Duminy are clear examples of it. Therefore, preparing these kinds of pitches on a consistent basis does not offer great joy to home victories.

So, what is an ideal cricketing pitch? Should India continue preparing turners at all venues? If that’s the case, won’t that take away the specialty of each venue?

The way forward

There are two options. First, if India is looking to prepare a dry turning wicket, it will definitely keep everyone in the game. A genuine turner that offers bounce would help the fast bowlers as they can get decent amount of bounce from the wicket. Also, if the conditions are humid, it will indeed help the seamers to swing the ball on Day one, and thus, providing fair contest between bat and ball.

The other option is sticking to the specialty of each venue. By sticking to the specialty of each venue, they get to play on different decks and tune themselves for tough overseas assignments. To be precise we get to see variety of pitches throughout Australia, and each venue has it’s own forte. Adelaide is known for assisting spinners, Melbourne surface is known for its slow nature, Brisbane is known for providing seam and bounce, and Sydney is known for assisting spinners from day four. At last, Perth is known for providing pace and bouncy wickets and till now it’s regarded as the fastest pitch in the world. Will it be nice to make every surface in Australia like Perth? Certainly no.

Likewise in India, Mohali is generally known for providing assistance to fast bowlers, which shouldn’t be changed. Kolkata is a good batting surface that is known to offer spin throughout the course of the match, and Mumbai is known to have good pace and bounce to both fast bowlers, and spinners.

Also, Chennai generally provides a good batting surface that deteriorates gradually due to the clay soil, and finally Delhi is known for the challenge of low bounce. These kinds of surfaces provide even contest between bat and ball, and any win achieved on these sporting wickets against a top-quality test side will be a lot more special than on a Nagpur like surface where results are more predictable. The best choice would be to stick to the second option.

To conclude, once in a while preparing a Nagpur like surface for a series would be fine, but preparing that kind of surface for literally every series at home takes away the pride of winning against a top-quality side.