Vengsarkar bats for bouncier Indian pitches

[suraj]

http://www.rediff.com/cricket/2008/feb/04veng.htm India should prepare bouncy pitches to help their young fast bowlers and batsmen become accustomed to overseas conditions, chief cricket selector Dilip Vengsarkar has said. Indian pitches are characterised by low bouncing, spin-friendly conditions, which also give batsmen an advantage and are not prevalent outside of Asia. Vengsarkar, a former India captain, also wanted all of the Ranji Trophy national championship matches played on neutral venues to allow curators the freedom to prepare more lively pitches instead of ones that would give the home side an advantage, the Indian Express daily reported on Monday. "We need to have more bouncy wickets..., all Ranji matches should be played at neutral venues," he was quoted as saying. Some Ranji Trophy games are already being played at neutral venues and pitches are slowly improving, from those with low bounce which either helped batsmen or spinners. "There is no pressure on curators when matches are played on neutral venues. We can offer sporty wickets," added former India player Dhiraj Parsana, who is now a pitch curator. In recent years, the Indian bowling attack has gone from being heavily dependent on spinners to one that is more balanced with the arrival of several talented pace bowlers.

[Dhondy]

Yes, fukcing, yes, at long bloody last... About bloody time too!

[IndianRenegade]

Its really good if that can happen....

[fineleg]

Its really good if that can happen....

Twice ever year they'll "talk abt it"...thatz all they'll do. i've been hearing abt "improving pitches" and no real results to show for the talk.

[Ram]

This another big myth, that bouncy pitches produce batsman who can play pace and bounce better. Good players will perform in any conditions, bad players will struggle in any conditions. That is what happened with India. During the 90s and early 2000s, we didnt have too much of a batting line-up to speak of, yes most of the players who are in the test team were around then too, but except for Sachin, none of the other batsman were fully developed. Now, after years of playing international cricket and getting themselves exposed to different conditions, the very same players now have the knowledge and wisdom to tackle the same bouncy conditions in which they previously struggled. India has produced a set of talented quick bowlers in the last 3-4 years, is anyone going to tell that is because we produced bouncier pitches at home ? I doubt if the nature of the wickets at home has changed at all. However, I dont deny that we must have different nature of pitches for FC cricket. There must the low, dusty turner, or the one that cracks up viciously on days 4 and 5, the seaming one or the hard bouncy one. Deciding to make plenty of bouncy pitches in an ad-hoc manner wont solve the problems.

[talksport]

Atleast you need those Various Type of Pitches.... if you can produce, to separate chalk and cheese in First Class Cricket.

[Shehezaada]

Yes, fukcing, yes, at long bloody last... About bloody time too!

I used to get excited like you too. But then the BCCI will set up a committee, they will take a month to select a chairman and president. That committee will take a month to get together, another month to make a plan of action. By then they will lose interest and the whole thing will disintegrate. And then if we get beaten abroad in a test match, we'll hear all the ex cricketers saying 'We need bouncy pitches at home'. Did you know that both Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, our countries biggest heroes, have held high posts in these committees I was talkin about before? Ain't nothing happen yet.

[Dhondy]

This another big myth, that bouncy pitches produce batsman who can play pace and bounce better. Good players will perform in any conditions, bad players will struggle in any conditions. That is what happened with India. During the 90s and early 2000s, we didnt have too much of a batting line-up to speak of, yes most of the players who are in the test team were around then too, but except for Sachin, none of the other batsman were fully developed. Now, after years of playing international cricket and getting themselves exposed to different conditions, the very same players now have the knowledge and wisdom to tackle the same bouncy conditions in which they previously struggled. India has produced a set of talented quick bowlers in the last 3-4 years, is anyone going to tell that is because we produced bouncier pitches at home ? I doubt if the nature of the wickets at home has changed at all. However, I dont deny that we must have different nature of pitches for FC cricket. There must the low, dusty turner, or the one that cracks up viciously on days 4 and 5, the seaming one or the hard bouncy one. Deciding to make plenty of bouncy pitches in an ad-hoc manner wont solve the problems.

You are missing the point, Sriram. The preparation of bouncy pitches is not to "produce" batsmen and bowlers who can perform on such sporting tracks, although that will undoubtedly be the outcome in the long term, but to take advantage of the set of players we have at the moment. Indian batsmen have consistently produced on overseas pitches of late and should therefore be able to counter good pacemen from other sides on such tracks, but even more importantly, we have a set of bowlers for the first time in living memory, that can scare the daylights out of the opposition's batsmen, and therefore don't need to resort to the doctored piches of yore, which exploited visiting teams' unfamiliarity against spin. Spin is no longer a vodoo art, and teams the world over have learnt to play tweakers well. This is particularly relevant with SA about to visit our shores. The last time they did that, we loaded the side with three spinners and opened the bowling with Zaheer and Ganguly on a comatose Kanpur pitch, allowing SA to amass 500. The same sort of tracks on which NZ escaped with a series draw, even dominating us in large parts. Personnel has changed, and changed decisively for India. Vengsarkar can see that, and has made what I see as the most significant and far reaching statement of his selectorial tenure. That gives me hope.

[Ram]

So Doc, what you are saying is preparing bouncy pitches gives the *current* crop of players more chance to play seam and bounce ? Yes, thats a very valid point. And Doc, I know you will mostly not agree with me on this, but i think spin is our strength at home, provided we get the right tracks for it and ofcourse, the right bowlers. Remember, even the Australians got bundled out 93 in a vicious Mumbai pitch. The only problem, something that you raised often, is that Harbhajan is almost totally ineffective these days.

[Sachinism]

i dont mind bouncy pitches, but what india need to do is make some good wickets that offer something to the bowlers too

[Dhondy]

So Doc, what you are saying is preparing bouncy pitches gives the *current* crop of players more chance to play seam and bounce ? Yes, thats a very valid point. And Doc, I know you will mostly not agree with me on this, but i think spin is our strength at home, provided we get the right tracks for it and ofcourse, the right bowlers. Remember, even the Australians got bundled out 93 in a vicious Mumbai pitch. The only problem, something that you raised often, is that Harbhajan is almost totally ineffective these days.

Yes, prepare fair pitches, and the right team composition will follow, which is really what this is all about. And no, I'll never agree with you that spin is our strength. It is in fact, our weakness, that has stunted our growth for many decades.

[fineleg]

Yes, prepare fair pitches, and the right team composition will follow, which is really what this is all about. And no, I'll never agree with you that spin is our strength. It is in fact, our weakness, that has stunted our growth for many decades.

Doc, Dont say that based on Harby...after all AK has won us many matches :thumbs_up: Going forward, yes we dont have spin strength - but we had it when AK was there.

[Dhondy]

Anyway, back to the point. Chief selector asking for fast pitches is hopefully a pointer to the selections he has in mind. As for Bhajji, he might yet make to Head Constable if he works hard at his real calling in life.