The Pitch and other things

India vs England

The Motera Pitch [Getty Images]

International cricket returned to India after almost an entire season. A four-Test extravaganza and the finals of the World Test Championship on the line made this for a mouth-watering contest. England set foot on the Indian soil at the backdrop of some lethal performances in the longest format in Sri Lanka, hoping to replicate their 2012 achievements under Alastair Cook.

Inexplicably, cricket took a backseat. Somehow, the dreaded Indian soil made headlines, literally and figuratively. Not even the cacophony surrounding the world’s largest cricket stadium found a sound footing in the eyes of the experts, former players and even the fans. A divided verdict on the ‘spirit’ of the Motera pitch made headlines for all the wrong reasons.

30 wickets inside five sessions of play was surely an open invitation to uncomfortable questions coming the home teams way. The Indian team management, however, came in an immediate defence of the slow nature of the pitch, citing lack of skill sets and application by batsmen on either side as reasons that made it nearly impossible to deal with the anomaly. On the other side, the same argument fell against England after their recent lacklustre performances against the slow left-arm spin of Sri Lanka’s Lasith Embuldeniya. The spinner, who bowled slower through the air, put the English teams in a spot of bother with not only some sharp turns but also the occasional straighter deliveries, claiming 15 wickets in just two matches @27.66. The exact pattern of dismissals continued against the slow left arm spinners in the ongoing series that put Joe Root and Chris Silverwood in a tough selection space ahead of the last and final Test.

Even the in-form England captain Joe Root struggled on the dry Motera surface [Getty Images]

Interestingly, what looked like elementary failures due to the balls turning square were a result of the skiddish nature of the pitch explained best by captain Root later. He added how the pink ball skidded-on after pitching on dry surfaces due to the extra coating when it didn’t hit the seam and  caused most discomfort, making even himself unplayable at times during the course of his maiden five-wicket haul. 

Amid all the hue and cry surrounding the pitch, Ravichandran Ashwin scaled heights that only Sri Lankan office Muttiah Muralitharan had done better. Mountain 400 was achieved only five Tests slower than the legendary office but matched an aura of controversy similar to that of Murali’s career.

Ravichandran Ashwin crossed the 400-wicket landmark in the third Test vs England [Getty Images]

Expectedly, we saw Ashwin turn up at the post-match press conference with fire up his belly. He dismissed remarks relating even remotely with the pitch and conceded that the visitors were just not good enough. He took a poor journalist on a trip down the memory lane, a time when India performed badly in England and the boys still came back with an aim to improve and an upbeat attitude for the next tour. In numbers, out of the 22 Tests (including this 3rd Test) that ended inside two days, nine took place in England and only two in India. 

A strong point was made with small reference about India losing two Tests against New Zealand away inside five days last year, without hearing any noise against the home team for preparing unsporting wickets. Ashwin’s anger was palpable, gestures visibly animated as he counter-questioned the journalist over the ideal definition of a pitch, something which he could have saved for the final Test considering pacer Jasprit Bumrah’s unavailability. So by the looks of it, an equally withered pitch can be expected from ball one, keeping in mind the World Test Championship finals at stake for India. A no brainer actually!

The ICC rulebook doesn’t carry that definition, instead it defines a poor pitch as: 

"A poor pitch is one that does not even allow an even contest between bat and ball, either by favouring batters too much, and not giving the bowlers (seam and spin) from either side sufficient opportunity to take wickets, or by favouring the bowlers too much (seam or spin), and not giving the batters from either team the opportunity to make runs… The pitch offers excessive assistance to spin bowlers, especially early in the match.” 

Check ICC Rules and Regulations- Pitch and Outfield Ratings.