This Indian Test Team has played its best cricket on sporting pitches, flattish tracks and bouncy tracks ... and not on rank turners or conditions which favour swing

[express bowling]

A crucial home series is coming up against England. And the first 2 tests are in Chennai. I hope we do not prepare rank turners.

 

In our 2017 home series against Australia, we had prepared a rank turner in the first test at Pune. And lost that match. Could not bat against 2 below par Aussie spinners.

 

In the 4th test of that series, we defeated Australia on a fast and bouncy sporting track at Dharamsala. 

 

In late 2016, we defeated New Zealand on a green track in Kolkata. 

 

On our South Africa tour of 2018, we defeated them on the bounciest track of the series in the 3rd test. 

 

When SA toured India in late 2019, we won 3-0  ... and even the SA ex-cricketers admitted that all the 3 pitches were sporting tracks.

 

And we defeated Australia in 2020-21 on their bounciest and quickest track at the Gabba ... and a sporting track at Melbourne. Even in 2018-19 we defeated Australia on sporting pitches at the MCG and Adelaide.

 

This is happening because most of our batsmen play pace, bounce and seam movement well. But can't play vicious spin or consistent swing that effectively.

 

And our fast bowlers are so good these days that they can dismiss the opposition cheaply even on sporting tracks and flat tracks. 

 

 

 

Our best chance against England would be if we prepare sporting tracks and flattish tracks with a bit of bounce in the upcoming test series. 

 

 

 

Edited February 12, 2021 by express bowling

[Suhaan]

Flat tracks can ensure Rohit become demon incarnate and put pressure on England

Rohit is very crucial to our batting resources (approach) this season

[RAZPOR]

Exactly i have a feeling that overly spin tracks might not be to our advantage.

[Lone Wolf]

Not sure which Chennai Track would be produced this time.  Umesh & Shami's absence can have a factor in this series & pitches may vary. 

I would've loved to see a Test in Hyderabad instead of Chennai which I think has produced good sporting tracks in last 3-4, years.  Outfield is also good not ultra fast like Rajkot. 

[New guy]

One of the biggest reason for lack of success in swinging pitches is lack of genuine swing bowler. Shami has been very ordinary on swinging tracks 

 

Coming to us playing spinners, we now have Pant, Gill etc who attack spinners. Remember that Lyon had started spinning a lot on day 5, but Pant never allowed him to settle, he hit a 6 right after one  ball spun to slip. The spinner was never allowed to settle and dominate (in contrast yesterday, SA batsmen allowed Yasir and Nauman to dominate)

 

Earlier sachin, laxman, sehwag, even dravid used to take out spinners by hitting them all over the park

Edited January 30, 2021 by New guy

[Gollum]

Chennai's Chepauk pitch to have English look

 

There will be live grass for the first Test, it will be a sporting wicket, reveals Chepauk's pitch curator

 

Green Surface to Greet Players at Chepauk For First Two Tests

 

Chepauk set to make England feel at home

 

Chepauk's pitch curator V Ramesh Kumar has made it clear that it won't be a turner in the first Test

 

"I always believe there should be an equal contest between bat and ball. Pacers, spinners and batsmen should have something on the pitch and that is what cricket is all about. There will be grass cover because it needs to last five days. There will be runs for taking too”

[Gollum]

New curator it seems, from the links

 

Quote

 

This is Kumar’s first ever international assignment. In fact, it’s the first time he’s preparing a pitch from scratch having earlier assisted other curators in preparing pitches for few IPL matches and so naturally, he was surprised when the responsibility was handed to him.

“I was surprised when I got the call,” he said. “I have assisted other curators for IPL, but I have never done a pitch on my own at this level. This is the first time I’m making a pitch from the scratch. I didn’t expect it to happen too soon.”

Chennai will play host to two Tests with just a gap of three days in between and the two pitches are being prepared simultaneously.  “It is a challenging task because we are hosting back-to-back Tests with just three days gap and it is unprecedented in India. Quite frankly, it is being hectic because preparations for both the pitches are happening simultaneously,” Kumar explained.

 

Quote

Ramesh's maiden stint

For the 43-year-old MBA graduate, it is a big jump. Having cleared the BCCI curator test three years ago, he is yet to make any pitches at the Ranji Trophy level. Apart from laying turf wickets at Salem, Tiruppur and Coimbatore — all equipped to host first-class fixtures — Ramesh has only assisted other curators for few of the IPL matches. The call to make pitches for the first two Tests came out of the blue even for Ramesh. “I was surprised when I got the call. I have assisted other curators for IPL, but I have never done a pitch on my own at this level. This is the first time I'm making a pitch from the scratch. I didn't expect it to happen too soon,” Ramesh said.

After concentrating on the outfield for 20 days, Ramesh has turned his eyes to the square. “It is a challenging task because we are hosting back-to-back Tests with just three days gap and it is unprecedented in India. Quite frankly, it is being hectic because preparations for both the pitches are happening simultaneously,” he added.

It has been quite a journey for Ramesh, who had represented Tamil Nadu in the 100m hurdles in open nationals athletic championships. An injury that he suffered in college days made him turn his attention to cricket, which he played at the university level. He then became a professional curator as he had to depend on others to roll out pitches at his academy – Tiruppur School of Cricket — where he trains around 80 kids apart from supporting education for 20 of them. Like many others from the region, Ramesh is an entrepreneur who runs a garment and dying factory, employing around 700.

 

[express bowling]

37 minutes ago, Gollum said:

Chennai's Chepauk pitch to have English look

 

There will be live grass for the first Test, it will be a sporting wicket, reveals Chepauk's pitch curator

 

Green Surface to Greet Players at Chepauk For First Two Tests

 

Chepauk set to make England feel at home

 

Chepauk's pitch curator V Ramesh Kumar has made it clear that it won't be a turner in the first Test

 

"I always believe there should be an equal contest between bat and ball. Pacers, spinners and batsmen should have something on the pitch and that is what cricket is all about. There will be grass cover because it needs to last five days. There will be runs for taking too”

 

 

And from the point of view of Team India  ... this is the best.

[Lone Wolf]

1 hour ago, New guy said:

One of the biggest reason for lack of success in swinging pitches is lack of genuine swing bowler. Shami has been very ordinary on swinging tracks 

 

Coming to us playing spinners, we now have Pant, Gill etc who attack spinners. Remember that Lyon had started spinning a lot on day 5, but Pant never allowed him to settle, he hit a 6 right after one  ball spun to slip. The spinner was never allowed to settle and dominate (in contrast yesterday, SA batsmen allowed Yasir and Nauman to dominate)

 

Earlier sachin, laxman, sehwag, even dravid used to take out spinners by hitting them all over the park

Shami was not impactful at all in 1st inns in England generally.  Against left handers he was bowling well but vs RHB he was attacking stumps mostly & it didn't work for him. Same problem in NZ.  Siraj should play over him in England I reckon. 

[express bowling]

10 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

What's with the phraseology though?

 

What's a pitch with an English look? Is there an Indian look too? Do pitches with an Indian look fail to offer a fair contest between bat and ball? Does it mean we Indians have been cheating the visiting teams making pitches with Indian look?

 

Hard to blame Manju and Harsha when we have such complex ridden worthies crawling out of woodworks all over the country.

 

 

 

Agree strongly. !!

 

There have been all kinds of English pitches. There have been some green mambas which can easily be called doctored pitches ... prepared in circumstances when the English thought that the opposition would falter on those tracks and they wouldn't.

 

And there have been sporting pitches at Dharamsala, Kolkata, Mumbai, Mohali, Hyderabad, Ranchi etc.

 

This " Everything that is good is ' Western ' and vice versa "  mindset just boils my blood  !!

[Gollum]

32 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

And from the point of view of Team India  ... this is the best.

As long as it isn't rank turner I am fine. Narrows the gap between 2 sets of spinners and among batsmen only Pujara has some credentials on those pitches.

 

Last 10 years we saw 5-6 rank turners, in 2000s it was 3-4 and maybe close to double digits in 90s. Hopefully we see less of this extreme variety in 2020s. 

[Soldier]

30 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

What's with the phraseology though?

 

What's a pitch with an English look? Is there an Indian look too? Do pitches with an Indian look fail to offer a fair contest between bat and ball? Does it mean we Indians have been cheating the visiting teams making pitches with Indian look?

 

Hard to blame Manju and Harsha when we have such complex ridden worthies crawling out of woodworks all over the country.

Excellent stuff. Well said. 

[Soldier]

11 minutes ago, express bowling said:

 

 

 

Agree strongly. !!

 

There have been all kinds of English pitches. There have been some green mambas which can easily be called doctored pitches ... prepared in circumstances when the English thought that the opposition would falter on those tracks and they wouldn't.

 

And there have been sporting pitches at Dharamsala, Kolkata, Mumbai, Mohali, Hyderabad, Ranchi etc.

 

This " Everything that is good is ' Western ' and vice versa "  mindset just boils my blood  !!

Bro same here. Can't stand that mindset. Such people don't deserve to support India. I would love to see such kind deported into a concentration camp for life.

[putrevus]

5 hours ago, New guy said:

One of the biggest reason for lack of success in swinging pitches is lack of genuine swing bowler. Shami has been very ordinary on swinging tracks 

 

Coming to us playing spinners, we now have Pant, Gill etc who attack spinners. Remember that Lyon had started spinning a lot on day 5, but Pant never allowed him to settle, he hit a 6 right after one  ball spun to slip. The spinner was never allowed to settle and dominate (in contrast yesterday, SA batsmen allowed Yasir and Nauman to dominate)

 

Earlier sachin, laxman, sehwag, even dravid used to take out spinners by hitting them all over the park

Spot on.I would play Siraj over Shami in England.

[express bowling]

We will probably play 3 pacers and 2 spinners now.

 

Bumrah, Ishant and Ashwin are expected to play if fit.

 

The other 2 bowlers will be decided based on how much we want to strengthen our batting.

 

 

Edited January 30, 2021 by express bowling

[Soldier]

Go with pandya at 7

Thakur at 8

Bumrah

Shami or siraj

Ishant 

 

For englund. That's perfect. Put jaddu at 6. Depth batting. Depth bowling. I don't see England beating that team. 

 

 

 

[Soldier]

54 minutes ago, sarchasm said:

Just in case any of you were dying to see the englishman who's serving the pitch with english look

 

 

If it backfires, this guy better teleport himself to another country. 

[express bowling]

3 hours ago, Soldier said:

If it backfires, this guy better teleport himself to another country. 

 

 

We won't lose to England because of the pitch.

 

Our only risk can emanate from being too complacent after our win in Australia. Need to guard against this 

[Vilander]

On 30/01/2021 at 10:11 PM, sarchasm said:

Just in case any of you were dying to see the englishman who's serving the pitch with english look

 

 

Why is the way he looks relevant here?

[mancalledsting]

Population is a huge advantage; if India keeps their developmental system flourishing, then only God can stop it’s dominance.