Move beyond spin tracks, India needs sporting wickets

19 December, 2012

India is known for producing slow and low pitches that assist spinners. The same kind of pitch preparation policy was followed during the recently concluded India-England series and results are there for everyone to see. India lost the series 2-1.

THERE IS a serious need for the Indian thinktank to sit down over a cup of coffee and weigh the pros and cons of spin pitches. Spin is no longer India's major forte.The BCCI needs to think about the future and not linger on the things that they achieved in the past – winning almost all home series'. But, it is a thing of the past with teams coming to India and beating them in their own backyard.

The game calls for a sporting wicket as it will help the Indian team. We no longer possess bowlers such as Anil Kumble, V. Raju, N. Hirwani, Bishan Singh Bedi, who could run through opponents. There are many spinners in the Indian team, but they lack quality unlike their seniors like Kumble and even Harbhajan of old days, who was unplayable at times. We must also realise that the Indian team has spinners in quantity, not quality. For Indian conditions, one needs to be a top spinner so he could use it for his own benefit, the way Graeme Swann and Monty Panesar did.

One also has to consider that the Indian team has a good number of fast bowlers such as Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Umesh Yadav, Zaheer Khan, Balaji, Vinay Kumar among a list of many. But to their dismay, it is the wickets which don't assist them. They need to bend their back every time, if they are going to get any purchase from the track and sometimes even bending their back brings no results. If we compare Indian spinners with fast bowlers, it is the pacers, who might have a slight edge as they have looked good in patches, but have not been given any opportunity. If India continues to play four spinners and a single pacer (like the last Test match), what hope is left for the rest of domestic fast bowlers?

It is a win-win situation for India as well, if they begin to introduce sporting wickets against other teams including during domestic matches. If this is done, India will not falter embarrassingly against foreign teams in pitches, which assist bounce, swing and pace. Though, it may take time for India to get into terms with such pitch conditions, but on the longer run, it is the Indian team, which is going to benefit.

With the advent of the IPL, most of the touring teams have also understood how Indian pitches behave and how should they go about things. So, it is no big secret in order to play Indian spinners, as it is the same bowlers who bowl at the foreign players representing different IPL franchises. No wonder, most players have improved upon their batting and bowling performances in India after their participation in IPL.