Pitch Quality
The recent ICC WT20 debacle in the WI showed clearly two things!
One, Indian batsmen are susceptible to quality fast bowling. Dirk Nannes, Shaun Tait and Mitchell Johnson ran through India’s top order before Rohit Sharma’s rear guard action saved India from a damaging defeat. Two, clearly they can’t handle bounce! By bounce I mean the ball ‘rising and targeting the ribs’.
These two are complementary things. You cannot define ‘quality fast bowling’ if you don’t include ‘ability to bounce’ a batsman. Unfortunately India faced both during ICC WT20 2010 and 2009!
Are the Indian batsmen incapable of playing the rising delivery? Look at the names – Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni. These are real big names and not ‘once in a while’ performers like Chris Gayle or Brendon McCullum. They perform consistently all over and that’s why India is No.2 or 3 in ODIs.
So how did the big names falter twice? Was it because they didn’t have the technique to play bounce? No. It was the 22-yards that made all the difference. How could a team which hammered a good SA pace attack of Steyn & Co. falter against Nannes & Co.? The answer again is the 22-yards.
It was so unfortunate that the same thing happened twice. In England India were undone by Jerome Taylor & Co and here it was Kemar Roach. Action replay! Though after one year. Gautam Gambhir was at bay handling WI fast bowlers! It was very painful to watch!
The problem as it was said is the pitch and not the batsmen! The solution lies in preparing the pitch. Is there a better match India beating Australia at Perth? Can you get a pitch like that in India now? No. Is it possible? Yes. Very much so! The mindset needs to change. Indians have a feeling that Spin is Indian’s strength and so that’s how pitches should be in India. It’s not wrong. But they prepare flat tracks that produce tame draws! No flat tracks assist seam bowlers. And for everybody’s info, no flat tracks assist Spin till Day 3. Can you see a flaw in the plan? Evidently clear! Look at the Aussies. They have 6 international stadiums. Almost all produce results. Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, Hobart and Adelaide are all terrific pitches.
What BCCI fails to understand is, though India may not win a test or two if they prepare pitch which assists seamers, it will help them to play better cricket overseas. India will not be bounced out like what we saw a couple of months back!
Coming back to the bounce factor, it’s because of the pitch that the rest don’t face as much trouble as Indians face. Having said that, no batsman in the world is efficient against bounce! It’s the degree of confidence you show that separates the good from the rest!
Sir Vivian Richards offered to coach India how to play bounce, after the WT20. The problem I stress again is not the batsmen. It’s where they play that poses problems! They play domestic cricket in pitches where the ball doesn’t rise above waist and when they play them they find it difficult!
So ability to play bounce confidently will come naturally once India prepares bouncy tracks. Hope this happens before Nostradamus’ predictions relating to 2012 happens! Which will happen first?
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