Truth be told - "mystery of dead pitches"

The Nagpur pitch came under a lot of scrutiny after the third Test between India and South Africa (Image courtesy: India.com)

Fast bowlers running down the green turf with a frowning face and hurling the cherry grenade at the batsmen who is left stuttering by his fiery pace, has been a treat for all admirers of the sport.

The essence of Test cricket lies in quality bowling from the opposition and the sweet timing from the batsman who plays it away meticulously with perfection.The grin on the face of the quickie deepens and he walks back with an intent to pierce the willow in his next attempt.

Criticism for how pitches are made unwarranted?

The contest between bat and ball have always excited the fans leaving them engaged in a mystery unfolded.The recent Test series found India roaring against a timid batting performance.

The curators have drawn immense criticism for tailoring a pitch friendly only to spinners. A senior commentator took a dig stating that the pitch resembles one which is left dilapidated on the sixth day of play. Such an unsporting attitude from the home side was well unexpected and was soon scrutinised. ICC took things in its hands and declared the Nagpur pitch as “poor”.

This also reminds of the last series India played against England at home where the pitches were made for the convenience of our spinners, but players like Alastair Cook and Kevin Pietersen batted their way to glory.

One incident, I reckon, with absolute bewilderment, is English bowlers Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar both picking up Indian wickets at will and leaving the batting order dismantled.

The Indian middle order was demolished in no time and the team losing the match by an innings.The pitch was exploited for the ones it was made- “the spinners”(but the visiting spinners).

Truth be told, Indians have always been designing pitches to make the opposition weaker. We do not have hard, dry and bouncy tracks except the one in Mohali. Pitches in Australia are quite different while they have a balance of both slow tracks (Sydney and Melbourne) and fast surfaces (like Brisbane and Perth).

As most of the cricket pitches in Australia are lively and fast, the ball nicely reaches the batsman and the timing of the batsman improves. People often think that it is the fast bowlers who get favoured on these fast pitches but, at the same time, it is the batsmen who also enjoy batting on these kinds of fast tracks as much as the bowlers.

Impact the type of ball creates

The ball used is Sanspareils Greenlands (SG) for both domestic and international matches. SG balls are not meant to assist pacers and very soon you could see a spinner rolling over his arm. While the situation is completely different in other parts of the world where they prefer to give more importance to raw pace rather than taming it with inefficiency.

SG balls lose their shine quickly, but the seam is intact for nearly 80-90 overs making it more susceptible for reverse swing after 40-50 overs and also the spinners get appreciable drift in the air and grip off the pitch when the ball lands on the seam.

Kookaburra balls have a low seam which generally does recede, after say 20 overs. This will make the ball swing more in the first 20 overs assisting the bowling team and gradually making it suitable for batsmen to play their shots. But as the seam is lost, there will be no grip for the spinners

The Dukes ball has a good seam and the seam holds good up to 50-55 overs if maintained well and swings the most. It is the most bowler friendly ball assisting seam bowlers.

The Fame of Bowling board at the Lord's

Indian batsmen not adaptable enough?

If we get into the depth of the matter, our batsmen have become flat pitch bullies, opening up when they play in suitable conditions. VVS Laxman, who is always considered a threat for the Aussies, has never failed to score against them.

However, it is surprising to see that he never scored a hundred at Perth but always went on to make a hundred at Sydney, except in his last visit, post which he declared his retirement.

If we go by his records he has 3 hundreds in Sydney, 1 in Mohali and 5 at the Eden Gardens. It is in no way an attempt to doubt his credibility who has scored at Perth as well but could not convert it into a bigger score. However, it does show the comfort batsmen feel when they play in conditions suiting their style.

One can clearly notice why Indian swing bowlers get good swing when they play in English conditions. Young bowlers like Praveen Kumar and RP Singh bagged five wickets when they played at Lord's.

It is because of the same reason why Mitchell Johnson could not pick more wickets when he played in England with the Dukes ball. He picked up 15 wickets in his last Ashes tour playing five matches while he picked 37 when England visited them Down Under in 2013-14.

While Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad have always been a threat irrespective of where they played. No wonder, Broad has always been a part of the ICC XI since the last five years.