The black-soil pitch here at the JSCA International Stadium tends to be slow with low bounce. But in this fourth Test, variable bounce has been the feature of the wicket with some of the balls keeping very low from the first day itself.
Add to that the several cracks which are already there on the surface.
Under pressure with only three wickets in hand and still trailing England by 134 runs, India wouldn’t be too disappointed if it does rain on Sunday as predicted by the weather forecast. If it doesn’t and the overhead conditions are bright unlike how they were for a good part of Day II, the cracks on the pitch will only widen.
Precisely, the pitch has caught the Indians by surprise. “From the nature of the games previously, the wickets here usually get slower and slower as the day progresses. In the past too, it has got slower and lower. We expected
that. But honestly, we didn’t expect the ball to be keeping that low on the second day itself,” bowling coach Paras Mhambrey said after Saturday’s proceedings.
Mhambrey also tried to clarify that the Indian team management did not have any role to play regarding the pitch.
“Firstly, venues are not something that we can control. The wicket has never been a rank-turner here. We wouldn’t call this a rank turner, but the bounce was variable and on the lower side.
“There weren’t too many balls that spun sharply or were unplayable. That’s the nature of the soil here. Besides, there is no specific instruction
from our side that ‘we want to play on a rank-turner’... It’s just that the bounce is low and that is making batting a little difficult,” the bowling coach explained.
England, however, don’t seem to be having much complaint over the surface yet. “If you look at how it (pitch) performed... it does seem like it’s continually deteriorating and it would be really nice if we could get a reasonable lead,” centurion Joe Root pointed out. “I think we’re in for a very exciting Test match. It’s offered something different from the first three games, definitely, but we’ll see how things unfold.”
