OPINION
Follow UsThe game of Cricket has some written rules and some norms. Any aberration to the written rules is dealt with by the umpires and match referees. But the problem occurs when the unsaid rules or the norms are not followed. One such norm is about the nature of the pitch (apart from the rule of it being declared unfit or dangerous) in Test matches. For years, a pitch which seams on the first day then settles into a good batting wicket on the second and third day before turning on the fourth or fifth day has been accepted as a good one by the custodians of the game.
Indian spinner Ravichandran Ashwin rightly questioned that who made these rules. And it wasn’t just him. Right from the people who have played at the highest level to gully-level, everyone had an opinion on the pitch for the third Test of the Anthony de Mello Trophy played at Ahmedabad. The 22-yards strip on the banks of the Sabarmati river probably provoked more debates than the Britishers would have encountered in their entire stay while ruling India. It was the 22nd instance of a Test getting over within two days (only the second time it happened in India, first being India-Afghanistan in 2018).
Root: If I am getting five wickets on there, that sums the pitch slightly
Let’s begin with what the two captains thought about the rectangular piece of land. The English captain Joe Root cheekily said, “If I am getting five wickets on there, then you can tell it is giving a fair amount of spin, that sums the pitch slightly.” Well, fair point Mr Root, but as former Indian opener Aunshuman Gaekwad told in an interview to Mid-Day, “What did he do? He just bowled in the right areas. I don’t think he deserved five wickets because we played badly.”
Kohli: It was just below-par batting from both the teams
Rubbishing talks about the pitch being unplayable, Indian captain Virat Kohli said, “It was just below-par batting from both the teams”. Former English batsman Kevin Pietersen concurred with Kohli’s views. He felt that the wicket wasn’t horrendous, but it was awful batting from both the teams. The thing that surprised everyone was that two of the best batsmen (Kohli and Root) in the world were in action and they couldn’t negotiate the bowling.
The other line of argument especially from many Indians was that when the wicket seams and bounces a lot (like in England, Australia, South Africa or New Zealand), it is considered a challenging wicket but the moment it starts turning it is labelled as unfit. For the records, in terms of the lowest totals in an innings, no Indian pitch features in the top 80. The lowest being 75 by India against West Indies at Delhi in 1987.
Well, if one has to believe Rohit Sharma who was the highest scorer in the match (66 and 25 not out), then the pitch definitely wasn’t unplayable. “Honestly speaking, if you look at the dismissals, the 30 wickets that fell, I don’t see anything that the pitch did. The batsmen didn’t apply their technique. It was us too, not just their batsmen, some of the shots we played were not up to the standards. The pitch was completely fine. It is a typical Indian wicket, where it will turn, the odd ball might just come in. That is what an Indian wicket is all about”, he elaborated.
The general consensus among the Indians as summarized by the great Sunil Gavaskar was that it was a challenging wicket without an iota of doubt. It required application from the batsmen, which was clearly missing. But the challenge did make the play entertaining. There was hardly any moment that could be called as dull.
Was it a good advertisement for Test cricket?
This brings us to the question that do we want matches getting over within two days and is it a good advertisement for Test cricket? Were the fans robbed of action for three days?
In my humble view, such matches are much better than boring draws in which the teams score in excess of 500. Yes, the balance was tilted in favour of spinners here. But haven’t we seen many Tests where four fast bowlers are selected, and the spinner has to just warm the benches. So, this reversal where a spinner takes centre stage is fine for a change.
A better application by batsmen from both sides would have definitely ensured the match to last for a longer duration. Like Sir Viv Richards commented, “I just believe all the moaning and groaning has to stop. And from where I am sitting, it’s good to see.”
After all, it is called Test for a reason and it did test out the batsmen. As a fan, I would just hope that for the next Test, the batsmen come prepared with all guns blazing and we see another entertaining match at this magnificent stadium.
