5 reasons why India shouldn't prepare rank turners going forward

The Nagpur pitch has kicked up a storm in the press and on social media, the matter having elicited strong polarised opinions. While some have strongly criticised the pitch as shameful, others have defended it in the name of home advantage.Kohli has strongly condemned the fuss about the pitch saying, "There are a lot of people writing a lot of things about the pitch. 'It should not be like this', or 'it is turning too much', people sitting somewhere else and speaking about the pitch in India. I think it is just a matter of mindset where people are just giving their opinions and they are free to do so. I don't feel that way, we have never complained when we had challenging conditions and won't complain in the future either."But despite Kohli's statement, it has to be conceded that the Nagpur pitch behaved outrageously at times and almost all batsmen found it tough to score runs.Here are 5 reasons why India should not produce rank turners like this pitch.

#5 India will struggle in overseas conditions

India have been poor travellers historically and have struggled to replicate their home successes in overseas conditions. On fast, seaming wickets, it becomes a completely different ball game for the Indian batsmen as they find it difficult to adjust to the conditions.

The last away series that India won on fast, bouncy pitches was against New Zealand in 2007. The team back then still had the fab four of the batting order except Ganguly, which means that the current crop of Indian batsmen haven't found their mojo still in testing conditions.

India's heavy series losses in England and Australia last year showed how much ground the Indian batters need to cover. It is true that home advantage is possibly on the rise and great teams like South Africa also struggle in away conditions. But producing rank turners where spinners run through oppositions conveniently masks some of the bigger problems plaguing the Indian team at the moment.

#4 It\'s discouraging for the fast bowlers

It is completely a sane decision not to make a green top in the subcontinent as that would ironically put the Indians in a disadvantageous position against the South African quicks in their very own backyard. But continuously churning out rank turners is not going to help the cause of the Indian fast bowlers by any means.

It is no secret that India has struggled to produce quality fast bowlers over the years. Ever since Zaheer Khan stopped being in contention, India have not produced a single fast bowler who can deliver the goods consistently. Ishant Sharma who is the pace spearhead now is too inconsistent to be relied upon.

If India keep producing rank turners continuously in Test cricket, the fast bowlers will keep getting discouraged. Not having a good collection of fast bowlers has been hurting India's chances whenever they play in important tournaments outside the subcontinent.

#3 It\'s not good for the game

At a time when cricket administrators are trying to think out of the box to woo spectators back to the stadium in Test matches, the kind of cricket we saw at Nagpur is not going to do any service to their cause.

Fans, broadcasters and advertisers have been left visibly unhappy over the fact that most of the Test matches in the last few series in India have ended within three days. Test matches are meant to be a game of patience that are played in a hard-fought enterprising way. In our ambition to get quick results, we might just be slowly killing the spirit of Test cricket.

Rash shots, definitely an outcome of too much of T20 cricket, have crept into the game and we no longer see big partnerships or high totals. With the ball turning square from Day 1 and the batsmen ready to go for their shots as it is impossible to survive on such a wicket, there was the undeniable excitement of something that might happen off every ball. For Test cricket to survive, should it then be played like a T20 from now on?

#2 Even India\'s batsmen struggled

The Nagpur pitch has created a storm of criticism which is equally matched by those defending the pitch in the name of home advantage. But such an excuse does not hold water given the fact that even India's batsmen struggled hard to score runs on this pitch. Only Murali Vijay's gutsy 40 scored on the first day stands out as the highest score in this Test match.

Home advantage is supposed to favour the home team more than the visitors. This is proved by the fact that Australian batsmen, unlike the visiting team, do not struggle on their fast, bouncy pitches to score runs.

The Indians are traditionally good players of spin but even they appeared to be clueless on this pitch. In the end, it was the Ashwin-factor that carried India over the line as he is virtually unplayable on a rank turner. But solely depending on Ashwin to win you Test matches single-handedly is dangerous as India's batting and bowling owes will automatically become evident when the conditions are different. It is better to holistically address those issues and try to build a better Test team.

#1 Lack of balance between the bat and the ball

It is ironical perhaps that at a time when cricket pundits have been bemoaning the fact that it is becoming a batsman's game, we are lamenting that the pitch has too unfairly assisted bowlers. But when the highest score after four innings have been played is 40, you know there is something seriously wrong with the pitch.

Let's face it: the Nagpur pitch made the ball turn square from Day 1 and spinners were virtually unplayable at times. And it cannot be called 'home advantage' in the truest sense of the term when almost all the Indian batters struggled as well.

At one stage in the second innings, Rohit Sharma started going for slogs when he was batting on 17. If batsmen cannot even get set and have to go for slogs to get runs on a Day 2 wicket, is that the way we would like to see Test cricket being played?