Discussing the 2nd test between India and SA at Kolkata, 2010

[Rajan]

whether it is Kolkotta curator earlier in the onedayer Vs SA or the Nagpur curator who prepared a greenish pitch against Aussies in 2004(when the final frontier was breached at last By Gilchrist ), the internal politics of the BCCI cost us crucial matches.When Dalmiya was the superman, the Opposition wanted to humiliate the national tream and prepared the green pitch under Shashank Manohar managed VCA earlier. Later when Dalmiya was defeated, he sought to return the complement when India was facing SA, with refusal to shave the grass. may be the recent thaw in relationship between Dalmiya and Modi would result in a slightly neutral pitch this time in Eden Gardens! when NZ, SA, Australia prepare pitches to suit the home team, here we are left with the mercy of the curator,influenced by BCCI politics!

[Desi Cartman]

and what made him issue a statement to the press on the matter :hmmm:

[TheWall]

Why cant the BCCI ban these dumbwit curators from speaking to the press without prior information to the BCI...

[punjabi_khota]

There is no point dwelling too much on the pitch. Sure, every home side would like to have a pitch assisting it's bowlers but the Nagpur pitch is certainly not one which favored the South Africans like at Ahmedabad two years ago. There was turn on this track right from day one - slow, but good spinners should have been able to do the work with it. These aren't days from 15 years back when you could wheel in Chauhan into the side and expect the opposition to give way. Teams like South Africa and Australia are much better players of spin now and have played a lot in Indian conditions. Ordinary spinners are not going to run through them even on tracks assisting spin. India's best chance is a pitch where their pace attack is in the game - Zaheer, Ishant, and Sreesanth need a bit of assistance and can bowl very good spells. Again, I am not saying prepare a greentop, but this over reliance on ordinary spinners is not really going to help out. A pitch with bounce and carry is going to keep our fast bowlers in the game and also help Harbhajan, who more than turn likes good bounce on the track.

Exactly what I mentioned before the series, but some how, messrs Vortex and Morris wanted dead tracks.. :hysterical:

[diegovegaz]

sreesanth would be my choice, if he is fit

[Guest DeveGowda]

Curator need mail simply because he dont want to OWN the blame later if pitch is under preprared and complaints raised about State of pitch...(remmeber kotla) if u have a mail atleast he can leak that into Press and make some money when he is going to lose job to save some others face...:hysterical: *its good to see corporate culture in cricket :haha:

[someone]

Pressure First time after some time, we have some genuine pressure to deliver But more importantly, I think we should not make any drastic changes and stay calm and patient. Just swap Sharma/Laxman for Saha and maybe sree in the starting 11. It is not like we need to drop the whole team, we just need to make plans about each player just like how they south Africans did. I hope our indian media shows some common sense, and avoid that approach of a terrible team. It would not surprise me if we have some exclusives about how poor each indian player played which would only increase the pressure on us for the next match. Time to calm down

[gaurav92]

Should we prepare a rank turner in Kolkata I think we have the right to prepare a rank turner, that will see some turn even on day 1.I remember we made such a track against Saffies in 2008 at Kanour and we saw result in 3 days.So now that we have seen our conditions even on a relatively flat deck, i will not be surprised to see a rank turner be made for the second test.I think Bhajji has been terrific at Eded Gardens, so taking that into consideration, i think we should have a turning track.

[Lord]

yes prepare a turner.but it should have bounce too.Nagpur had turn but slow turn n zero bounce. prepare a turner n play 3 spinners:P

[Karan114]

prepare a turner n play 3 spinners:P

:--D

[gult]

Yes, without any doubt. Ignore the voices of those who think that a turning track is not a sporting track. If SA passes this hurdle they will become undisputed No.1.

[The Outsider]

LOL! We just prepared a pitch which was turning before lunch on day 1, got duly hammered by an innings and you guys still want to carry on with the loser strategy of relying on mediocre spinners? Unless there is bounce on the pitch our seamers and spinners will be toothless - you can prepare all the turners want.

[Clarke]

under-prepared pitch ? Smith goes to ICC and :hitler::hysteric::whine:

[Riley's Girl]

Your Playing XI - Second Test (Either side) I'd do the following with the SA team: Drop Prince & bring in Alviro Petersen. There is absolutely no use keeping Alviro in the squad if he's never going to get a game. Prince isn't performing so we have nothing to loose there. Bring in Botha for Harris, despite his 3 wickets. ( Based solely on personal preference & the irrational fact that I want to hit Harris whenever I see him. ) Batting line-up: Smith Amla Kallis Petersen De Villiers Duminy Boucher Botha Steyn Morkel Parnell

[Lord]

LOL! We just prepared a pitch which was turning before lunch on day 1, got duly hammered by an innings and you guys still want to carry on with the loser strategy of relying on mediocre spinners? Unless there is bounce on the pitch our seamers and spinners will be toothless - you can prepare all the turners want.

thats why i said i want a pith that has turn n bounce.this wicket didnt have bounce.the turn was slow.we need a pitch like was prepared for Mumbai test against SL

[Lord]

Sehwag GG VJ SRT VVS Badri Dhoni Bhajji Mishra Zak Sree/Ojha

[Lord]

(Either side) I'd do the following with the SA team: Drop Prince & bring in Alviro Petersen. There is absolutely no use keeping Alviro in the squad if he's never going to get a game. Prince isn't performing so we have nothing to loose there. Bring in Botha for Harris, despite his 3 wickets. ( Based solely on personal preference & the irrational fact that I want to hit Harris whenever I see him. ) Batting line-up: Smith Amla Kallis Petersen De Villiers Duminy Boucher Botha Steyn Morkel Parnell

i think the better option for SA would be to drop Duminy n bring Ashwell down the order

[CSK Fan]

thats why i said i want a pith that has turn n bounce.this wicket didnt have bounce.the turn was slow.we need a pitch like was prepared for Mumbai test against SL

This will always be disadvantageous to the side batting second so God forbid, if India loses the toss, prepare to lose in a big way as the pitch will crumble and Steyn and Co will make good use of the bounce

[gult]

Viru, Gambhir, Vijay, Sachin, Laxman, Dhoni, Harbhajan, Badrinath, Sreesanth, Zaheer and Mishra No major changes needed. Just that they need to use their brains more often.

[gult]

@my two cents, Last time we lost the toss, yet managed to win.. Whether people agree or not, bhajji is still our premier spinner and he needs to get some confidence back.