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Why should Indian pitches change?
I would like to know why these ex-players want the Indian pitches to favour bounce and movement and not be slow as they have been for like forever. Every country has its own identity and for India its that the pitches support spin and are slow. So why should we abandon our identity and copy the Australians, South Africans or the English. Has the Perth pitch ever supported spin? No. Has any of the England pitches supported steep bounce? No. So why do Indian pitches need to support pace, bounce and lateral movement. Where would the so called “home advantage” be if all pitches in India are like a visiting team’s home conditions?
The so-called ex-players who call themselves experts have built their careers on these same slow, turning conditions. Where would they be if the wickets in India supported pace and bounce during their times? I think the BCCI should stick to its guns and keep tradition alive. There would never be a Kumble had India never had spinning tracks. Where would Bhajji’s hattrick be at the Eden Gardens? Does Sri Lanka or Pakistan ever talk about changing the conditions of their tracks? Slow and spin-friendy tracks are what “IDENTIFY” India in the world of cricket. In my eyes, to go against it is being non-Indian.
Muralitharan took his 700th wicket against Bangladesh as his team won a comprehensive victory by an innings and 193 runs. The 700th scalp was Syed Rasel. He now joins Shane Warne as only the second bowler in cricket history to cross the 700 wicket barrier in test matches. With only 8 more wickets required to become the leading wicket taker in tests, Muralitharan’s carrier could very well have been over even before it started. The bent elbow has been his Achilles’ Heel. It has provided him with the turn that he can generate off any surface and has landed him into a lot trouble as well.
With the Indian tour to England underway and the first ball going to be bowled in less than 24 hours, I wanted to check out on what Sehwag and Harbhajan were upto. The last I heard was that Sehwag was destroying the opposition in the domestic circuit and Harbhajan had been called to join county team Surrey. Both players had been dropped from the Indian squad for both ODIs and Tests due to a string of poor to average performances. They were also dealt a double blow when the BCCI demoted
them in the new contracts assigned to the Indian players.