Not as welcoming as you'd think

[Captain of Bhangra]

It sounds bad, but I agree with the guy. We are now a huge super-power, and our cricket board has been throwing it's weight around for quite a while. You saw our last series in New Zealand, pitches like that would have killed our batsmen again. That said, I wouldn't fancy their bits & pieces line-up against Zaheer and Ishant on the same pitches either. It is, however, a regular myth about us producing these 'dust bowls'. Our home pitches have improved in variety this decade, so the dust bowl swipe is best left in the 1990s...

[Anakin]

CoB, those pitches would have killed any batsmen against decent bowlers. And if they had them this time around, kiwis would've lost all 3 matches in shorter time

[King]

The person that has written this article has no sense of history. The last time NZ toured India for a test series they drew it 0-0 because of the very reason the pitches. The pitches were so flat it was a wasted tour. If you check the scores in Napier this season you will know there is absolutely nothing the curators have done to produce a seamer friendly pitches. Even if they left a bit of grass it would have dried over the test match and the bowlers would not have had a chance to get much purchase out of it. The writer is going by Richardson's article and has no thoughts of his own. He hasn't done enough research prior writing this article hence this article is a waste of time.

[EnterTheVoid]

Green tops make mediocre teams look like world beaters -> case in point, the Pakistan v Ireland group match of the 2007 world cup By endlessly advocating for green tops, you're in essence, inadvertently downplaying the achievments, skills and abilities of your team. Is this to be interpreted as saying the only way N.Z. can win test matches against formidable opponents is by purposefully doctoring the pitches? If you go by what the author suggests, even if you got a crummy team, if you juice up a pitch, you'd roll over any opponent. When N.Z., England or Australia make fast and bouncy pitches, it is called playing to the home sides strengths and evening up the advantage. Whereas if India make slow and low pitches to suit its spin bowlers, its termed pitch doctoring. How about some consistency ? At the end of the day, it is not Lalit Modi or Sharad Pawar who are batting, bowling or fielding. It is an Indian 11 versus an Opposition 11. Both play on the same pitch and make use of the same conditions. One has to win, one has to lose.

[fineleg]

Let them make a green pitch at Wellington. If their batsmen want to face ZK, Daadaji Patel and Ishant Sharma on green pitches, sure get it ready for Test-3.

[Master Blaster]

Let them make a green pitch at Wellington. If their batsmen want to face ZK' date= Daadaji Patel and Ishant Sharma on green pitches, sure get it ready for Test-3.

And we also have Jarkhand Express Dhoni

[Rajan]

this guy talks thru his rear. given an half chance, the Kiwis would have prepared a grassy wicket.it just did not happen because of the diffrence in the schedule. we are touring them in Feb and March rather than december and jan when we suffered last time.it is cr@p if any one says the pitches are flat on purpose. Oram scored hardly 5 runs in 3 matches if i am correct. he is coming back from a long injury break. prior to our tour, he had even mentioned that he may give up bowling and concentrate only on batting because he gets injured while bowling. now, imagine a player, coming back to test cricket, bowling 3 consecutive days , 50 overs on that flat track, he would have again broken down, if he was rushed. it was a correct decision as it turned out. they will pick him if he feels better. any way, if criticizing BCCI indirectly will get some dollars for a writer/ex. cricketer, let it be so! let them get some fame and food on BCCI!

[Chandan]

This article is so incredibly offensive. It is sad that NZ Herald doesn't have a comment section or else all of could have asked this fellow as to why the pitches in the series vs WI flat as roads too? Is NZC board terrified of WICB too? I just don't understand how can these authors so shamelessly assume that BCCI has any interest whatsoever in the pitches prepared by the opposition! Why don't they look at their own board which has been earning a record sum from this tour and doesn't want the matches to end in 2-3 days?

[jf1gp_1]

on a pitch which had something for bowlers they were 60 for 6 at lunch first day; they lost the game on 4th day; now imagine what would have happened had they actually prepared a green top.

[Sachinism]

This article is so incredibly offensive. It is sad that NZ Herald doesn't have a comment section or else all of could have asked this fellow as to why the pitches in the series vs WI flat as roads too? Is NZC board terrified of WICB too? I just don't understand how can these authors so shamelessly assume that BCCI has any interest whatsoever in the pitches prepared by the opposition! Why don't they look at their own board which has been earning a record sum from this tour and doesn't want the matches to end in 2-3 days?

Exactly, all these people are just plain haters NZ pitches have been becoming more and more flat, but just because India goes there and pulverises NZ, the hating fools come out and say its because of BCCI. Jeremy Croney was on Sky Sports in the studio during the test match and when he was asked why NZ had prepared such flat pitches, he replied, "BCCI has threatened boards, if they don't prepare pitches to their liking they won't tour" Seriously what an idiot, he wasn't whining when NZ scored 600, then it was a good pitch which he was happy with.

[insane]

BCCI is so powerful and the money invovled with Indian matches that countries try to make wickets that last 5 days for the viewership money. And everyone want s a pie of the IPL :hysterical:

[Rajan]

^^ probably BCCI/IPL bosses rejected his application for any role with IPL, sour grapes! on second thoughts, BCCI shud sue him.he will become insolvent, idiot.

[jf1gp_1]

dont know how many actually noticed this but during the match yesterday they were giving updates of NZ domestic games; i didnt see one game where neither of the sides had scored under 400 infact one team was 600+ ; wonder if BCCI rigged those pitches as well.

[Rajan]

dont know how many actually noticed this but during the match yesterday they were giving updates of NZ domestic games; i didnt see one game where neither of the sides had scored under 400 infact one team was 600+ ; wonder if BCCI rigged those pitches as well.

correct, in fact there were scores of 177* and 160+ by couple of batsmen. one team was on the verge of creating highest domestic score. blame it on BCCI for any shortcoming.

[EnterTheVoid]

In comparison to the BCCI, both the Lankan and Pakistani boards are relatively poor Why were flat pitches prepared for that series? :dontknow: When you use such articles to create hysteria and paranoia in the pursuit of a few silver coins, credibility and self respect are the first things that go down the drain N.Z. were exposed on a seaming track (60 / 6?) and they couldn't win on a flat track. I don't understand why they are endlessly advocating for either of the two extremes Your guess is as good as mine

[Sachinism]

dont know how many actually noticed this but during the match yesterday they were giving updates of NZ domestic games; i didnt see one game where neither of the sides had scored under 400 infact one team was 600+ ; wonder if BCCI rigged those pitches as well.

Maybe it was because Jeet Raval (Indian origin) was playing their and they made them flat so he could score the 265, he did

[flamy]

Tough titties, suck on it NZ :finger: The BCCI has bought Cricket. Everytime you play cricket, you have to pay royalty.

[umpire]

BCCI can't even dictate pitches in India, these guys are fool Do they know about Nagpur fiasco??