Who’s running the show in India?

[Ram]

Was watching Bhajji’s post match interview with Ravi Shastri and he literally made an impassioned plea for more sporting test wickets in India.. He even went on to state it he wasn’t even asking for spinning tracks, but tracks in which the ball carries through nicely for the pacers and there’s assistance for the spinners on days 4 and 5. Even MSD seemed to suggesting at the post-match presentation that they’re hoping the Hyderabad wicket would offer a lot more for the bowlers. Its pretty obvious that most in the Indian team want pitches with more assistance for the bowlers and they have made their opinions known on more occasions than one. Cricinfo actually ran headline piece a while ago where Bhajji, again, was at the forefront of the calls for pitches with more assistance for the bowlers. With this being the case, is their opinion being paid heed to, at all? Does BCCI even have a formal mechanism by which they take in player feedback? BCCI talks the good the talk about promoting test cricket, but do they actually walk the walk? Is anything being done at all, at an organizational level to help prepare more sporting tracks? I know that we’ve had curators from other countries visit us and share with us their expertise, but it is obviously not working. Ironically, a few years ago, it was the current Chairman of selectors, Kris Srikkanth, who was appointed as the head of a committee to oversee pitch preparation, but nothing much substantive seems to havw come out of it To be fair to the BCCI, pitch preparation for a test match is very complicated, its both an art and science. They have to strike the balance b/w preparing a track that lasts at least 4-5 days and having enough in it for the bowlers to feel encouraged and that is not an easy task, especially given the soil/weather conditions in India. But the question remains – Is anything at all being done about it, especially in the backdrop of such vocal criticism from some of the most senior Indian cricketers, including the captain himself? The results may not be forthcoming, but we at least want some efforts put in to improve status quo and that doesn’t seem to be happening right now. Right now, pitch preparation in India seems to be in the exclusive domain of a handful of curators who have probably held the job for 2-3 decades.

[dial_100]

Marrirs, an excellent article to bring up a very valid point. Our pitches have been very placid or flat. Absolutely no assistance to our bowlers. Kumble and Bhajji would have done lot better if we had at least sporting wickets which turn day 4 onwards. It is not unfair to prepare such pitches in India. This is India and not England. Aussies/English can do what they like with their grounds but we being so rich cricket board, should take a lead and make test matches very sporting and make sure in the quest of not losing any game at home, we should stop making these flat, patta wickets and make the test matches boring in india Unfortunately, is BCCI listening????

[vaibhav_delhi]

Looks like srikant has some work to do

[cowboysfan]

Looks like srikant has some work to do

what is Srikant going to do?.he can barely function as the chief selector.the only chance kiwis have is playing on a dead track and we just handed them a draw on the platter.Shame on BCCI and the idiots running it.

[vaibhav_delhi]

what is Srikant going to do?.he can barely function as the chief selector.the only chance kiwis have is playing on a dead track and we just handed them a draw on the platter.Shame on BCCI and the idiots running it.

oops.... looks like I misread. Who oversees the pitches these days? test cricket is definitely not a great spectacle on these slow and low pitches.

[Ram]

It seems like there's a distinct disconnect b/w what the Indian cricketers feel and what the Board does. A majority of the players seem to be in favor of UDRS, while BCCI keeps shelving for reasons unknown to anyone, even though the whole Sydney test fiasco and the ensuing mess in which they actually forced ICC to remove Bucknor from the umpiring panel could have all been avoided had the umpiring review system been in place. At least when it comes to UDRS, there seem to be at least a couple of dissenting voices within the team (Sach, Dhoni), but everyone's pretty unanimous in their call for pitches with more life, but nothing much seems to be happening. Time and again, the fate of the test matches is held hostage to the individual expertise of that particular curator.

[CoverDrive]

Atleast they can make bowler friendly pitches for the Ranji. We will have encouragement for bowlers and people actually wanting to bowl fast and do well. First round of Ranji matches were all draws among the super league except one match. Prepare uncovered pitches and reward teams to go for win (5 points for a win and 1 point for first innings lead)

[Lord]

whatever u say,Ahmedabad wasnt a dead track,it was batting friendly but was there for bowlers.commies mentioned on more than one ocassions that there was a tinge of green on the pitch.which is why we were 15-5.also there was turn on ocassional deliveries like McCullum's wicket.

[Clarke]

Does anyone here believe that all of our curators are not up to the mark; that preparing & predicting cricket pitches is not a simple task. The curators are often forced on a tight rope. A green track for a day and there's the risk of India being all out under 200. A turning track and the opposition cries foul for months in the press and yrs in the books post retirement. It must be a safe bet to prepare a batting track; a draw is far more acceptable than India's loss. You can always blame the bowlers for not trying hard enough as well.

whatever u say' date='Ahmedabad wasnt a dead track,it was batting friendly but was there for bowlers.commies mentioned on more than one ocassions that there was a tinge of green on the pitch.which is why we were 15-5.also there was turn on ocassional deliveries like McCullum's wicket.[/quote'] :headshake: Some grass was visible on the 4th day since the moisture underneath came into effect. This did not change things drastically, Harbhajan still hit a century and none of our batsmen had a jaffa to deal with. Most importantly, for the first three days it was a road.

[ZodiaC]

whatever u say' date='Ahmedabad wasnt a dead track,it was batting friendly but was there for bowlers.commies mentioned on more than one ocassions that there was a tinge of green on the pitch.which is why we were 15-5.also there was turn on ocassional deliveries like McCullum's wicket.[/quote'] I agree, wasn't a dead track at all - why has it to be a dead track when it's a drawn match? The pitch wasn't top notch, I agree, but the odd delivery definitely turned and bounced.

[putrevus]

that pitch was low in bounce,but Indians never got any reverse swing going and to expect Bhajji to win matches now a days is a futile exercise, he has been out bowled by many visiting spinners including Harris. Bhajji kept complaining how hard it is bowl on first day pitches, well he did not have that excuse either there. Zaheer has been picking up the slack he did not do well as his weapon reverse swing was missing. Ohja he can be steady bowler but not a match winner.

[Desi Cartman]

Bhajji talks about dead tracks to justify his own pathetic figures :mad:

[fineleg]

Bhajji talks about dead tracks to justify his own pathetic figures :mad:

:P

[Ram]

Another area where there seems to be a clear disagreement b/w the Board the players is that of Test venues. MSD said pretty much in plain terms that the Indian team wants to play test matches in centres where there have been traditionally more support for test cricket, but BCCI does not seem to be that interested in changing the current rotation policy.

[putrevus]

Another area where there seems to be a clear disagreement b/w the Board the players is that of Test venues. MSD said pretty much in plain terms that the Indian team wants to play test matches in centres where there have been traditionally more support for test cricket' date=' but BCCI does not seem to be that interested in changing the current rotation policy.[/quote'] this match was supposed to be played in eden garden but they back out due to renovations so Hyderabad is hosting, but you are right they need to host test matches in traditional venues where public interest is more and those venues can be asked to prepare more sporting wickets. BCCI needs to proactive but they don't seem to care and Bhajji will continue to moan and groan about wickets instead of improving his crappy bowling.

[saneindian]

Bhajji talks about dead tracks to justify his own pathetic figures :mad:

To be fair to Bhajji, most of the wickets on which we have played in last 2 years have really been quite placid. A look at how batsmen have done in tests played in last 2 years by India in which Bhajji has played. Nearly every batsman is averaging over 50, 11-12 batsman average over 60!! http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;player_involve=7139;qualmax2=5000;qualmin2=100;qualval2=runs;spanmin1=12+Nov+2008;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting And now a look at how the bowlers have done in those tests. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=bowling_average;player_involve=7139;qualmax1=200;qualmin1=5;qualval1=wickets;spanmin1=12+Nov+2008;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling The leading bowlers are all pacers and they are at top primarily due to the reverse swing they have got from the surfaces we have played on. Yes, Bhajji's own firm has been pathetic in recent times, but that doesn't mean what he is saying about the nature of the tracks is completely wrong. Another factor could be the number of catches dhoni and other fielders have missed in recent times (nearly 2-3 chances missed every test match).

[putrevus]

To be fair to Bhajji, most of the wickets on which we have played in last 2 years have really been quite placid. A look at how batsmen have done in tests played in last 2 years by India in which Bhajji has played. Nearly every batsman is averaging over 50, 11-12 batsman average over 60!! http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=batting_average;player_involve=7139;qualmax2=5000;qualmin2=100;qualval2=runs;spanmin1=12+Nov+2008;spanval1=span;template=results;type=batting And now a look at how the bowlers have done in those tests. http://stats.espncricinfo.com/ci/engine/stats/index.html?class=1;filter=advanced;orderby=bowling_average;player_involve=7139;qualmax1=200;qualmin1=5;qualval1=wickets;spanmin1=12+Nov+2008;spanval1=span;template=results;type=bowling The leading bowlers are all pacers and they are at top primarily due to the reverse swing they have got from the surfaces we have played on. Yes, Bhajji's own firm has been pathetic in recent times, but that doesn't mean what he is saying about the nature of the tracks is completely wrong. Another factor could be the number of catches dhoni and other fielders have missed in recent times (nearly 2-3 chances missed every test match).

but look at his 2010 stats Bhajji has played nine tests so far all in subcontinent and has picked up 26 wickets at avg over 48 , yes wickets have been flat but that doesn't justify his figures, they are so bad and that too from bowler who has taken over 350 wickets. India is not expecting Ohja to win matches for them but Bhajji they are expecting them to win matches but he has become support bowler on his best day. Ohja and Mishra are not any good either, if India cant expect spinners to get wickets in India it is tough to get 20 wickets. and also in world cup is coming soon, who is going to take wickets there.