Coming back to the Nagpur track, Crowe expressed concerns over the performance of the pitch. The report has also been sent to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), who have 14 days to respond.
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Riding on his stupendous performance in the ongoing home series against South Africa, Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin today rose to a career-high second in the ICC Test rankings for bowlers even as A B de Villiers lost his top spot in the batsmen standings.
No matter which side of the fence you were on during the third Test between India and South Africa, everyone can agree that the wicket was dodgy as hell. South Africa’s 9-year, 15-test series long unbeaten streak was broken and it also marked a wonderful start to Kohli’s stint as the test team captain on home soil with a series win against the top-ranked test side.
“The surface was probably the toughest that I have had and the cricket itself was really hard”, Amla had said after the 124-run loss in Nagpur that also brought about their first away series loss since 2006. “When we were in South Africa, the only thing we talked about is how badly we played”. We haven’t experienced this type of challenge before. The key feature of both the assaults on the best side in the world at that moment was the complete decapitation of their batting units. He wants to win, he is passionate.
Ashwin stopped all the famous and good players of South Africa from playing a good inning specially AB Devillers who is the main problem for India in One Day Series and T-20 series.
Likewise, the sub-continent teams playing on the bouncy pitches in England, Australia and South Africa and seaming ones in New Zealand should get the option of bowling first, but barring Pakistan, do the others have quality fast bowlers to make use of the greens? It’s disheartening to see Indian batsmen on their toes in an overseas series from a fan’s perspective, but when did we complain about their pitches? However, the Indian captain Virat Kohli and Team director Ravi Shastri had strongly defended the pitch, saying that there was nothing wrong with the track. This (Nagpur Test) at least went for more than three days. “If we have a chance to go three-nil up, we’d try and go three-nil up and give our 100 percent”. “I would hope the one in Delhi is absolutely the same (as Nagpur). I can not understand the logic”, Kohli lamented.
The pitch at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium was a rank turner which saw prodigious turn and unpredictable bounce from the very first day.
Spinner Amit Mishra denied that the tracks were “doctored” to help the hosts, dismissing talks that the series did not offer a fair contest between the bat and the ball.
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When Indian batsmen struggled against James Anderson in their last tour to England, the debate wasn’t whether the pitch was seamer-friendly (it always is), the debate was whether Anderson is a better pacer than Dale Steyn.
