To those people complaining about the sporting pitch

[bharat297]

I am of course dissapointed by the Indian batting performance, but it is silly to blame the curators or the BCCI or anyone else. Not producing sporting pitches doesnt make us a better team ... sure we might win a few matches and become no.1 for a while, but then we slip down later when we are found out. This is a wake-up call for our team, who were riding a wave of confidence in the wake of our success in Australia. The problem is not that we produced these pitches ... its that we produce too many pitches like the game before. I agree with what Bhajji said that teams need to produce pitches to their strengths , however if we are to be a consistent team, we need to be able to perform well on any pitch.

[The Outsider]

Sorry, but this is not a sporting pitch. I have no issues with sporting pitches but pitches which have exaggerated movement only for the first session or two before leveling off into pattas are not sporting. A sporting wicket would be something like we had in Sydney and Perth during the Australia tour. This was a wonderbra like some of the NZ wickets we got 5 years back except the wonderbra deflated after 2-3 hours. At least on those NZ pitches, there was more or less a fair chance for everyone throughout the match.

[yoda]

shwetabh, is it not possible that this pitch still has life, except that our bowlers have been sucking ass?

[The Outsider]

shwetabh' date=' is it not possible that this pitch still has life, except that our bowlers have been sucking ass?[/quote'] Possible, but unlikely because the ball stopped doing extravagant things as early as the 10-12th over of our innings, but by then we had lost half our side.

[Guest Hiten.]

Possible' date=' but unlikely because the ball stopped doing extravagant things as early as the 10-12th over of our innings, but by then we had lost half our side.[/quote'] The ball never carried banana swing even during the start of the game. We lost wickets every over, due to pathetic batting and good line + length by SA bowlers. Their bowlers hit the deck hard whereas our bowlers were just bowling without trying to extract something out of the pitch. How in the hell did Bhajji pick 3 wickets whereas RP, Sree and IKP did jack ****. The pitch was a good batting surface when we batted and it still is.

[Laaloo]

Pitch: The experts say that the pitch looks slightly greener this morning and the moisture has surfaced again. Kallis and de Villiers will have to approach the morning session with caution and a couple of early wickets could even the score. India would ideally like to bring the lead down to less than 200, but that would take some getting.

[Cricketics]

this pitch is fine.. i don't know why pitch topic has been exaggerated over here too.... chennai was a disastrous pitch.. thats it.. now leave it till chennai.. don't bring it here ate motera.... This pitch is not that bad.. stop criticising for no reason.. all around the world u find such pitches..

[PaiN_KiLLeR]

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/net/mmpaper.aspx?page=article&sectid=15&contentid=200804042008040403461124530750fc4 There is one man in India who is very happy with the way the first day's play in the Ahmedabad Test has gone: the Motera stadium pitch curator Dheeraj Parsana. Indian team captain Anil Kumble and his men tried their best to bully Parsana into making either a rank turner or a dead track in Motera. But the 60-year-old Rajkot-born Amdavadi refused to buckle. "It is my job to make the pitch. Your job is to go out and play," he told Kumble. At the end of the day's play on Thursday, with South Africa on top after having shot out the Indians for 76 in 20 overs, Parsana was "extremely satisfied" with the work he had done. "Yes, I feel bad for India... it happens in cricket, you do have an off-day and the opposition suddenly finds its rhythm. But as far as the wicket is concerned, I am very satisfied," he said. Casting a glance at the wicket, he said, "Look at the shine on the wicket. This pitch will play true for at least another two days. It was such a challenge... the history of Ahmedabad and the draws we have had here, the intense heat and of course the media. But today, I'm a happy man because our sincere efforts are seen by everyone," Parsana said. His work has highlighted the conflict between the Indian team's play-safe attitude and the prospect of interesting cricket, and while the team may sulk that it lost out to the curator for once, neutral observers are happy. Jamie Alter of leading cricket portal Cricinfo.com said, "It's a good Test match wicket and if it doesn't crack over the next two days, it will be a good advertisement for cricket in India." That's not a compliment a curator at Motera usually gets. Apart from the Indian team's insistence on tailor-made tracks, he generally has to deal with the wicket's reputation as a paata (flat one). And the weather, at 48.4 degrees celsius, was also going to be against Parsana. Parsana however said there was no way he could be forced to do something. "I spent 20 years playing cricket and 25 years preparing the wicket. I am happy people like Narhari Amin [president of Gujarat Cricket Association] back me. I am not the type of person who will get pressurised by anyone," he said. Parsana's cricket credentials are such that the players can't dismiss him at all. He was considered one of the stalwarts of Saurashtra, and was one of the leading all-rounders in the Ranji Trophy. A left-handed batsman famous for hitting big sixes and a left-arm swing bowler, he scored 2,285 runs and claimed 196 wickets in Ranji Trophy. Parsana played two Tests against the West Indies in 1978-79. After the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera was built, Parsana was chosen by the late Polly Umrigar to prepare the wicket there. "Polly Kaka knew I played cricket in England and over there, it was part of my duty to help out the groundsmen. “He told the then managing committee of the Gujarat Cricket Association to rope me in for preparing the Motera wicket," he said. The wicket for the first ever Test in Ahmedabad - against Clive Lloyd's West Indies in 1983 - was a disaster. "Lloyd was very unhappy with the wicket, although his team won the Test. The problem was sub-standard soil used in preparation of the wicket. I remember Sunil Gavaskar played beautifully in that match and Kapil Dev took nine wickets," said Parsana. Parsana said he gained considerable knowledge of pitch preparation from 1994 onwards. He has also served on the pitches and grounds committee of the Indian Board.

[fineleg]

:finger:

At the end of the day's play on Thursday, with South Africa on top after having shot out the Indians for 76 in 20 overs, Parsana was "extremely satisfied" with the work he had done. "Yes, I feel bad for India... it happens in cricket, you do have an off-day and the opposition suddenly finds its rhythm. But as far as the wicket is concerned, I am very satisfied," he said. Casting a glance at the wicket, he said, "Look at the shine on the wicket. This pitch will play true for at least another two days. It was such a challenge... the history of Ahmedabad and the draws we have had here, the intense heat and of course the media. But today, I'm a happy man because our sincere efforts are seen by everyone," Parsana said. .

:finger::finger:

[fineleg]

^^ I hope the Ahmedabad crowd is distraught and teaches a minor lesson when the crowd gets to meet Dhiraj Prasanna on the roads.

[Zap_Brannigan]

^^ I hope the Ahmedabad crowd is distraught and teaches a minor lesson when the crowd gets to meet Dhiraj Prasanna on the roads.

you are sick.....but so am i for wishing the same. Anyway the blame should be shared by the curator and our batsmen and esp our captain for electing to bat. Idiots. But anyway, if a pitch behaves like perth in the 1st morning and like a flat track after that, the curator should be fired from his job.

[fineleg]

are u equating minor lesson to lynching? :haha:

[Desi Cartman]

After the Sardar Patel stadium in Motera was built, Parsana was chosen by the late Polly Umrigar to prepare the wicket there. "Polly Kaka knew I played cricket in England and over there, it was part of my duty to help out the groundsmen. “He told the then managing committee of the Gujarat Cricket Association to rope me in for preparing the Motera wicket," he said. The wicket for the first ever Test in Ahmedabad - against Clive Lloyd's West Indies in 1983 - was a disaster. "Lloyd was very unhappy with the wicket, although his team won the Test. The problem was sub-standard soil used in preparation of the wicket. I remember Sunil Gavaskar played beautifully in that match and Kapil Dev took nine wickets," said Parsana.

so it was ok when Lloyd criticized the pitch but kumble doesnt have a right to be unhappy with it :nervous: and how was it bad when a batsman scored a ton and a fast bowler took 9 wickets

[Chandan]

I am of course dissapointed by the Indian batting performance, but it is silly to blame the curators or the BCCI or anyone else. Not producing sporting pitches doesnt make us a better team ... sure we might win a few matches and become no.1 for a while, but then we slip down later when we are found out. This is a wake-up call for our team, who were riding a wave of confidence in the wake of our success in Australia. The problem is not that we produced these pitches ... its that we produce too many pitches like the game before. I agree with what Bhajji said that teams need to produce pitches to their strengths , however if we are to be a consistent team, we need to be able to perform well on any pitch.

Where were you bharat, all these days? I missed your posts! But here I just do not agree with you. A pitch which seams for just the first two sessions and turns into a batting beauty after that just can't be called a sporting pitch. If anything, it gives an undue advantange to team bowling first and it is at this point you can fault the Indian captain because it was he who won the toss and decided to bat first. But whatever be the reason, it just seems that the Indian team didn't want to play this series; they are not focussed enough and instead of trying to win the the match or fight out the tough situation, are just going through the motions. In whichever way you see, if the pitch is not good, the effort from Indians have been worse. Getting out for just 76 even on a minefield is not excusable and even if the ball was seaming around in the first session, the pitch was nowhere near a minefield. We played terribly and our batsmen should take the full blame.

[DomainK]

so it was ok when Lloyd criticized the pitch but kumble doesnt have a right to be unhappy with it :nervous: and how was it bad when a batsman scored a ton and a fast bowler took 9 wickets

What dear Anil did is that, in a decision of highest stupidity, took the initial swing and movement on his own team and then let the South Africans to bat on a surface on which movement was relatively reduced.

[Desi Cartman]

What dear Anil did is that' date=' in a decision of highest stupidity, took the initial swing and movement on his own team and then let the South Africans to bat on a surface on which movement was relatively reduced.[/quote'] I think he knew that the movement will last 1 session only .. .. but he forgot that Indian batting wont last even 20 overs ... It wasnt a great decesion after seeing the grass anyway

[cochise]

Indians were "deers caught in the headlights"...totally unprepared and unfocused for the batting they had to do. Green or no green...they way underperformed. It's time they got serious and have some purpose and intensity about them when they are in the middle. Enough of this "Sunday morning stroll" level of concentration to their efforts.

[Gambit]

Agree with the OP. I'd much rather have a pitch like this than the one at Chennai. The pitch wasn't the mamba our inept batting display made it out to be.

[Sooda]

It wasnt. But whats the point of playing right into SAf hands - theyve got a far better pace attack- PACE attack being the word as opposed to our medium pacers. The thing is the same thing has happened vs Aus and England. Theres sporting pitches- and then theres suicide. This is suicide. We should produce minefields and gone in with Kartik, Kumble and Bhajji. Why not?? Equally sporting surely- favours the bowlers. we cant play seam they cant play the turning ball.

[cochise]

we cant play seam they cant play the turning ball.

We CAN play seam...we just don't seem to want to take the trouble and the effort to do it at home. Just the easy ride. Team India has got to be more hard working and versatile. They are not putting the effort in aside from a few.