[redCherry]

All I am suggesting is, I like tests that lasts at least 4 days, with an even contest between bat and ball.
If the match ends up overtly favouring bat or ball (spin or fast), that's not upto my liking.

I am not quite sure why some of the 'experts' here are not so happy when I say the current series is not that enticing to watch when it is so heavily favouring the home-side bowling. That's just my opinion

All I like to say is, we need pitches we used to have earlier, like 5-10 years back, when 1st session on day 1 would be tricky to bat, with bit of help for seamers, good for batting upto end of day 3, day 4 onwards it starts turning.
It makes a good contest to watch.

Here in this series, I can definetely say that the pitch is over-assisting spinners right from day 1, instead of day-3 or day 4. Not blaming the pitch for Aussie losses, or taking anything away from our team for winning on the spinning wickets.

It would be interesting to see how we all react if we win 4-0 here comprehensively on spin tracks, and then lose the WTC finals at the Oval inside 3 days.

If our team aims to win the WTC, play the last match (or the last 2) on pitches that don't assist spin this much, especially now that we can't lose the series and almost certain to qualify for the finals.

If we can't challenge ourselves on such wickets here in the rest of the series, how are we going to be prepared to face the same team in the WTC finals on non-spinning wickets, against 4 fast bowlers? Something to think about?

BTW, that 36 all-out in Adelaide, I firmly believe it wasn't a bad pitch, just that our batters weren't good enough to handle that accurate & consistent good-length bowling that day.

Off-topic:
If there are any tests India played abroad, that can be blamed on the pitch I remember few matches played more than 2 decades ago, one in Durban and most of the series' in NZ, where it was hard to differenciate the pitch from the outfield, and on both occasions we lost very badly, inside 3 days.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by redCherry

BTW, that 36 all-out in Adelaide, I firmly believe it wasn't a bad pitch,

Are you saying that Nagpur and Delhi were bad pitches?

[NPV]

Originally Posted by ValarMorghulis

"What is a good pitch? Who defines it? Who said a good pitch should seam first day, bat for the next two and spin last two? Who makes these rules? Come on, we need to get over it. The Indian team has never complained about pitches in any of the tours".
...
Plus, there are T20s and ODIs already loaded in favour of the batsmen. Let then show some skill against the bowlers in one format.

Absolutely agree with Ashwin, hats off to him for saying this and the manner in which he said this was just amazing

The game is now too much in favour of batsmen and this should be countered by preparing pitches that have something in them for the bowlers. Every home team prepares test pitches to help their bowlers, so what is wrong if we do it? This is like saying South Africa, England, Australia and New Zealand should not prepare pitches that favour seam and swing!

There have been some occasions when visiting teams have bowled better (even the spinners) and won games in India, remember one in Bangalore when the Pakistani spinners bowled better and won the game. The famed West Indian pace bowlers were very successful in India too, so why all this drama about blaming the pitch?

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by Eddy

Are you saying that Nagpur and Delhi were bad pitches?

The keyword is 'Over-assisting' not 'bad' pitches. Especially the Nagpur pitch.
Let it spin, no issues with that, but NOT from day one, end of Day 3 onwards may be.

[NPV]

Originally Posted by redCherry

The keyword is 'Over-assisting' not 'bad' pitches. Especially the Nagpur pitch.
Let it spin, no issues with that, but NOT from day one, Day 3 onwards may be.

I disagree, this is exactly the point Ashwin was making as well - why and who defines this ?

BTW, 'over-assisting' cannot be quantified
(I'm not saying that dangerous pitches are ok).

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by redCherry

The keyword is 'Over-assisting' not 'bad' pitches. Especially the Nagpur pitch.

Interesting. You are calling Adelaide "Not a bad pitch", silent on Delhi and saying Nagpur was "Over Assisting". I am sorry but I do not agree. IMO as a spectator, all three pitches were either equally good or equally bad depending on one's own view of what test cricket is. You are implying that Adelaide was better than both pitches in India. I totally disagree.

Let it spin, no issues with that, but NOT from day one, end of Day 3 onwards may be.

Again, implying that a pitch that seams on all five days is better that one that spins on all five days. Why?

[redCherry]

Originally Posted by Eddy

I totally disagree.

Sure. I respect your opinion, or anyone else's. But I also expect the same about my point of view. I am just saying what I like to see.

Originally Posted by Eddy

Again, implying that a pitch that seams on all five days is better that one that spins on all five days. Why?

Nope, didn't say that. Please see my comments on the tests we lost to SA & NZ some 20+ years ago.
Just like spinning-from-day-one pitch is a not a good idea for overall cricket, seaming/swinging on all 5 days of a pitch is not a good idea either...I like to see some balance, that's all irrespective of what Ashwin says, that's just my 2 paisa.

[Eddy]

Originally Posted by redCherry

Just like spinning-from-day-one pitch is a not a good idea for overall cricket, seaming/swinging on all 5 days of a pitch is not a good idea either...I like to see some balance, that's all

Then how come Adelaide was "not a bad pitch" and Nagpur was "over assisting"? Both of them should be the same, no?

[whencut86]

Originally Posted by redCherry

The keyword is 'Over-assisting' not 'bad' pitches. Especially the Nagpur pitch.
Let it spin, no issues with that, but NOT from day one, end of Day 3 onwards may be.

The pink ball seams/swings more compared to the red ball. In addition to that, the conditions under the floodlights make it tougher to negate it as well. The flurry of wickets under lights in pink ball happens in most matches actually.

So technically the night sessions in day-night test matches can also be classified as 'Over-Assisting' right?

[rx100]

There is a Twitter spat going on between Venkatesh Prasad and Akash Chopra

[Shumi_21]

Originally Posted by rx100

There is a Twitter spat going on between Venkatesh Prasad and Akash Chopra

What you mean they're having Twitter spat?

Venky & Aakash are actually helping India compete with Australia in the parallel "best entertainment provided by ex-players during the BGT series" trophy.

[harry10]

Originally Posted by rx100

There is a Twitter spat going on between Venkatesh Prasad and Akash Chopra

Venky stated facts about KL Rahul which none of the ex cricketers have the guts to say.

Aakash will obviously defend KL cos he is close to Sunil Shetty and he has to run his You tube channel too.

It's funny to see what lengths people are going to defend a player with worst average of any Indian opener in a 9 year long career. Selectors have made a mockery of Domestic performances and there is literally no incentive for players to perform in domestic all year long cos only IPL and favoritism has become deciding factor in team selections.

[TorqueyTechie]

Watching the semi final of the WT20 between Ind and Aus. It is still early in the game but I feel that our bowling today has not been so good as is the fielding. Too many loose deliveries plus almost a boundary ball every over. Maybe the semifinal jitters have got to the Indian team. Indian women have never won a semi final in the t20 (barring the rain affected game which they won because of better w/l record) and also have lost to Aus the most.

Hopefully we can turn the game. Score now is 51/0 in the 8th over.

Edit: Healy is out. Score is now 52/1.

Edit : Lots happening last couple of overs. Fielding has been very poor today. 2 catches dropped in 2 overs.

[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by TorqueyTechie

Fielding has been very poor today. 2 catches dropped in 2 overs.

I think that has been a consistent theme; I watched a couple of matches and dropping catches seemed unfortunately regular.

Hope the Women get the trophy home!

[ValarMorghulis]

Originally Posted by harry10

Venky stated facts about KL Rahul which none of the ex cricketers have the guts to say.
...Selectors have made a mockery of Domestic performances and there is literally no incentive for players to perform in domestic all year long cos only IPL and favoritism has become deciding factor in team selections.

Below is the list of batters who average more than KL Rahul (33.44) and are still not part of the Indian team:
1. Shikhar Dhawan (38.71) - Discarded after a few poor innings.
2. Prithvi Shaw (43.67) - Poor guy has played only 5 tests where he has scored 1x100 and 5x50s.
3. Mayank Agarwal (41.33) - Dude can bowl as well. Has 4x100s and 6x50s
4. Ajinkya Rahane (37.93) - Captain who led India to victory in the last BGT. Dropped after few lackluster matches.
5. Hanuma Vihari (33.56) - The guy who saved India in the last BGT batting injured along with Ashwin.
6. Karun Nair (62.33) - Poor guy. The only other Indian to have scored a 300 in test matches. And he doesn't get a chance but KL does.

Heck, even the now retired Murli Vijay has a better batting average than KL at 39.97!! No wonder he was so bitter seeing ordinary guys get so many chances.

Add to that, new players like Gill, Kishan don't get a chance to even showcase their ability.
One Sarfaraz is languishing in domestic having scored more runs in first class than most score in their careers.
Even in FC, Sarfarz has scored at an average of 79.65 with 13x100 & 9x50 in 37 matches compared to KL Rahul's average of 44.18 with 17x100 & 31x50 in 90 matches.

Mind boggling.