[redCherry]

Originally Posted by PPS

Just hope sporting pitches are prepared in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Going by the articles on 'Sydney Morning Herald', you are probably better off replacing 'hope' with 'dream' at least for the first test.
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket


Actually if the pitch is "doctored" the way it's mentioned in those articles (only watering selective parts of the pitch, allowing strategic areas to dry around left-handers' area outside offstump), I give a big for 2 reasons.

1. I believe our spinners are too good to be too dependent on such tailored pitches
2. That kind of pitch can actually back-fire on hosts if they bat second or last.

If they do prepare pitches like they did for India-England series, I don't mind seeing our team lose

[vamsi.kona]

Was surprised to so much noise about pitch even before the game started and checked what it was about. Saw the below picture and was really ashamed why our board and curators are stooping this low to doctor a pitch. Prepare a rank turner, but selective watering and rolling of pitch because the opposition has more left handers is shameful and indirectly accepting that our team isn't good enough to win even with normal home advantage.

https://twitter.com/beastieboy07/sta...pc26nbR4w&s=19

[Shreyans_Jain]

It’s shameful indeed.

The success of our test team over the past 5-7 years has been built on the back of our fast bowling. We have a set of players who are good enough to take 20 wickets over 5 days on their own merit. This right here is a flagrant insult to the fast men and all their accomplishments.

Our batting’s weakness against quality spin is also well documented. From the exploits of Moeen Ali and Rashid Khan to Ajaz Patel’s 10 wickets to Shakib and Mehidy spinning a web more recently in Bangladesh. And all of them are lesser bowlers than Nathan Lyon, who is one of the GOATs.

[Chetan_Rao]

Note from Support:

Folks, please stick to cricket and steer clear of discussing IND-PAK politics. Genuine topic, but Team-BHP & the Cricket Thread are not the place for it.

Thanks!

[sridhu]

https://twitter.com/tickerscricket/s...hrJNG9_LA&s=19


My feelings, exactly!!

[pandey.jai]

The Indian batters made Ajaz Patel look good to grab 10 in an innings. I just hope they don’t collapse against Lyon and other Aussie spinners.

Either way, I cannot wait for the match to begin. I’m super excited!

[Eddy]

India's (and Pat Cummins') luch with the toss continues.

Sky over Gill is a risky move.

Good luck team India

[vamsi.kona]

Originally Posted by Eddy

India's (and Pat Cummins') luch with the toss continues.

Sky over Gill is a risky move.

Good luck team India

Sky over Gill isn't just risky, but ridiculous. To be frank as good a batsmen as he is he didn't do anything in the longer formats at domestic level as well to be in a test squad leave alone the 11. It sends a very wrong signal to every aspiring cricketer that just doing well in T20 in general and IPL in particular is good enough to get into test squad. Sky can be a success in tests as well, but that is a completely different thing.

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Sky over Gill is a risky move.

True. Especially since both debutantes, Sky & KS Bharat are slotted to come one after the other. But the risk is offset by Jadeja + Axar + Ashwin coming in next.

To his credit, Sky did score almost run a ball 90 and 80 odd on rank turners in his last two Ranji games and he averages 40 throughout his career. His spin game is up there with Iyer's.

Gill has got to replace KL Rahul IMHO.

Also is anyone noticing Sunil Gavaskar's voice on commentary has changed? He sounds weird.

Siraj has trapped Khwaja LBW first ball.
Shami has sent Warner's off stump cartwheeling.

Both beaten by pace on a spinning track

[KPR]

India will win comfortably. Courtesy Ash, Jaddu and Axar. Once again mediocre show by KL Rahul will go unnoticed this series. The reason for which captain, coach are trying to shield him I don't understand. Better Abhimanyu Easwaran shift to Ireland because he will be denied a chance here for sure.

[AtheK]

Seeing that Stump cartwheel, what a beautiful view for the eyes!!

Not sure why we really need pitches to nhelp us win aymore when we have such an amazing balling line up.

[AltoLXI]

On the domestic front - Mayank Agarwal has single handedly rescued Karnataka from a precarious position with a brilliant double century in the Ranji semi finals against Saurashtra.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by AltoLXI

On the domestic front - Mayank Agarwal has single handedly rescued Karnataka from a precarious position with a brilliant double century in the Ranji semi finals against Saurashtra.

Yes, perfect game for fans like me. Always liked Saurasthra as a team and what they have been able to achieve in the recent past. Also love Mayank as a batter and a return to form is welcome

[msdivy]

Well done Mayank!

Originally Posted by Eddy

Always liked Saurasthra as a team and what they have been able to achieve in the recent past.

Karnataka has reached 6 semis in the last 10 Ranji trophy editions and won 2. But their nemesis has been Saurashtra. At least 3 times they have been knocked out by Saurashtra. This post sums it up:

[congruent.cars]

Here's a look at the 'pitch being tailor-made to suit home team' situation from a different lens...the lens of a directly invested spectator. I and my buddy have been itching to drive on the Samruddhi Expressway from Mumbai to Nagpur ever since the inauguration. The numerous posts on the team-bhp thread only make this itch worse. What better occasion than to combine the exhilarating drive with some Test Cricket watching, we thought. So we have planned to drive to Nagpur by Friday evening and watch the match on Day 3-Saturday(tickets booked). So far so good.

Now reading through all the news about the curator producing a rank turner with a rough outside left-handed batsman's off stump and the prevailing match situation on day 1, it looks like there will hardly be any play on Day 3. Imagine the plight of someone who made plans for Day 4 or 5!

The boards of all nations need to be wary of this. If 80% of the test matches are going to be done by Day 3 or Day 3.5 max, it may be prudent to begin the test match on Friday or Saturday and cap the test match length to 4 days. I am guessing it would be a logistical nightmare for the broadcasting crew, commentators, spectators, players, and everyone actually if a match scheduled across 5 days gets truncated to 3 days. Think stadium/flight tickets, hotels, television slots cancellation/rebooking, and all the cascading impact thereof.

If we stick to 5 days format, then the primary endeavor of the boards and curators should be to try their very best to prepare a wicket that will last 5 days. A bias towards the home team is fine, but a 2 or 3-day test match is possibly the worst advertisement for what is considered the most sacrosanct and revered format.