By: Tarish Bhatt
Unlike the Wankhede pitch, which was a complete belter offering no help to spinners, the Indian team is now looking to get “suitable pitches” for the four-match Test series against the touring South Africa.
According to BCCI sources, the Indian team management is actually keen to get those kind of wickets where “the ball would grip the surface”.
Sources also said that a pitch in Mohali, which is scheduled to stage the opening Test match from November 5, may produce a typical Indian Test wicket, where the ball would start spinning from Day Three of the Test match.
It was also revealed that the pitches in Bangalore, Nagpur and Delhi could be given extra attention to suit the Indian spin attack.
When Drcricket7 tried to get in touch with a few BCCI officials, none of them were willing to talk about the Test pitch preparation. In fact, some of the board officials still sounded upset with the way the Mumbai ODI match pitch preparation was handled.
The reported misunderstanding between Indian team director Ravi Shastri and Mumbai pitch curator Sudhir Naik after a record Indian defeat also irked some of the board members.
There were others who agreed that the internal politics of the Mumbai Cricket Association should have made way for such “a flat deck” for the ODI series decider on Sunday.
However, the Indian Test team isn’t reading too much into the ODI and T20 series defeats. The team management also sees no wrong in using the home advantage during the Test series.
“You should see the way our Indian team is treated when we travel abroad. We are given bad practice wickets, where our key players have been injured during the nets. It has also cost India Test matches,” a member of the support staff added. From his choice of words, it amply clear that the South Africans are in for a real spin challenge against the hosts.
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