[PICTURE] The pitch for the first Test between India and England

Surprised that it looks pretty good for day 1 pitch, well come lunch time we might be seeing this one::inti
 

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India should play Jayant as 4th spinner. Don't be fooled by grass:kohli This pitch is gonna crumble real fast.
 
This looks a very decent surface actually. There is lots of green grass, which might be trimmed later, but what it tells that there is a bit moisture & the roots are deep. Only concern is already evident barren area in both ends, exactly on spinners length, which might crack even from day 1.

Still 2 days left, unless they stop watering the surface, this will be a decent batting wicket for first 2/3 days with a bit of bounce. Should be a good Test wicket, unless burnt into dust in next 3 days without water.
 
Ah yes. That magical dry spots and cracks which are only present where Ashwin and Jadeja will land the ball. These two have it so easy it's not even funny.
 
Was expecting a green mamba wicket... what is this. :uakmal

Will be a raging turner by end of day 1.
 
Rajkot historically is a rank turner or a flat track.

So won't be surprised if this is a rank turner.
 
Ah yes. That magical dry spots and cracks which are only present where Ashwin and Jadeja will land the ball. These two have it so easy it's not even funny.

Yet visiting bowlers keep finding bowling easier in UAE than they do in India and that too against better line up consisting of many ATGs.

Just saw Bishoo running through Pakistani line up 2-3 times in last test series while he will take 20 years to perform this way on Indian pitches.
 
Ah yes. That magical dry spots and cracks which are only present where Ashwin and Jadeja will land the ball. These two have it so easy it's not even funny.

I guess you have a point but who is stopping the opposition spinners from landing the ball in the same area?
 
Moeen Ali will be licking his lips in glee!
 
Just hope that we win the toss and bat first
 
I'm looking forward to Moeen and Barry's surgical strikes against the Indian batsmen!
 
Please do a detailed analysis of both teams. You know a lot about English players.
The key for England is to rotate Broad and Stokes at one end while at the other to keep switching preferably all of Moeen Ali, Batty (who is a fine off-spinner) and the two less accurate spinners, Ansari and Adil Rashid.

We bat so deep that I think rank turners will make our spinners better than they really are.

I haven't given up at all!
 
Bias is evident in this thread.

Its pretty flat, and not really too dry. Saurashtra Cricket Association are hosting their first test, and are worried about getting any warning from the ICC for the pitch. Will be a pitch where team batting first will expect to score 400+. Pitch will only get tough on Day 4/5, but will still be slow turn off the pitch - i.e. nothing will spit up from the rough. England can easily get a draw here.

World away from what was there in Bangladesh. But since Bangladesh isn't India....lets all say Rajkot will turn square and Chittagong was a 'sporting' wicket.
 
As per reports, this track can be a good normal spin track or a rank turner depending on what they do from now on.
 
Bias is evident in this thread.

Its pretty flat, and not really too dry. Saurashtra Cricket Association are hosting their first test, and are worried about getting any warning from the ICC for the pitch. Will be a pitch where team batting first will expect to score 400+. Pitch will only get tough on Day 4/5, but will still be slow turn off the pitch - i.e. nothing will spit up from the rough. England can easily get a draw here.

World away from what was there in Bangladesh. But since Bangladesh isn't India....lets all say Rajkot will turn square and Chittagong was a 'sporting' wicket.

Bangladesh are minnows, If Sunderland park the bus against Liverpool and get a point they are praised, while Mourinho's Chelsea or United are castigated for doing the same thing because the talent gap is too narrow to be scared of losing so much for United and Chelsea but not for Sunderland.
 
Bangladesh are minnows, If Sunderland park the bus against Liverpool and get a point they are praised, while Mourinho's Chelsea or United are castigated for doing the same thing because the talent gap is too narrow to be scared of losing so much for United and Chelsea but not for Sunderland.

Bangladesh may well be 'minnows' - but that does not change the nature of the pitch, which is what I was commenting on.

The pitches in Bangladesh were much more tailored towards spin, than the pitch in the picture for the Rajkot test. In fact, the pitch for the Rajkot test looks a reasonable pitch for what one expects in the Sub-Continent. Dry, flat and slow. Not a raging turner.

Posters who have already jumped on the tailored wickets narrative just need to keep that in mind.
 
Bangladesh are minnows, If Sunderland park the bus against Liverpool and get a point they are praised, while Mourinho's Chelsea or United are castigated for doing the same thing because the talent gap is too narrow to be scared of losing so much for United and Chelsea but not for Sunderland.

Yeah that's fine but the analogy has gone haywire. Parking a bus is a defensive step in football to come away with a draw or nick a goal if the opportunity arises. Using one's home condition isn't a defensive approach (rather it's an attacking one), something most teams do and one Misbah was vouching for after the defeat to the West Indies.

Asian teams have been struggling for years to cope up with the overseas conditions and hence their poor record in Australia and South Africa. Remember Pakistan 49 all out at Johannesburg or India and Sri Lanka struggling with lateral movement and getting skittled for low scores in England. There is a reason why no asian team has won a series in Australia and South Africa. When Asian teams struggle to cope up with the pace of South African tracks or bounce of Australian tracks (although they have mellowed down a bit off late), the techniques of visiting batsmen come under the radar and become heavily scrutinised by experts. Most often the teams get blown away for a paltry total in the first innings on the first 2 days and thereafter it's only a case of finishing formalities. The Asian teams struggle to make a comeback thereafter in the match when they concede such a huge lead in the first dig.

But for some reason, the Asian fans have an inferiority complex and apologist attitude towards their own teams taking advantage of their home conditions. Apparently all the sub continental wickets should be flat for the first 3 days to give a nice and cozy welcome to the touring batsmen and should only start to turn in the last 2 days. If a ball starts turning on the first or second day, all hell breaks loose and the wicket is deemed poor. Why should asian and non asian batsmen be held to different standards. Shouldn't the faulty techniques of the visiting (or even the batsmen of the home team for that matter) against the turning ball be crticised?

I'm all for home teams taking advantage of their home conditions. There should be some diversity in tracks around the world. Earlier the English wickets used to assist swing, Australian and South African wickets pace and bounce, West Indian wickets pace, Asian wickets spin. Now since the conditions all over the world have got flatter (especially in LOIs), everyone wants every wicket to have the same template and start throwing a tantrum as soon as there is a sign of swing or turn. I don't mind greentops and square turners as long as the bounce is consistent. I didn't like the Nagpur wicket, I thought the bounce was very inconsistent on that wicket. But when people start whining about all tracks at the slightest sign of turn, it becomes a bit tiresome.
 
Wow, it has came fast.

Thought it wasn't starting till another few weeks.

Should be good and interesting.
Bairstow/Root/Cook are the key
I think they should have Buttler there.

Rashid wont do much
Ali is in the head of some of their players so he will
 
Yeah that's fine but the analogy has gone haywire. Parking a bus is a defensive step in football to come away with a draw or nick a goal if the opportunity arises. Using one's home condition isn't a defensive approach (rather it's an attacking one), something most teams do and one Misbah was vouching for after the defeat to the West Indies.

Asian teams have been struggling for years to cope up with the overseas conditions and hence their poor record in Australia and South Africa. Remember Pakistan 49 all out at Johannesburg or India and Sri Lanka struggling with lateral movement and getting skittled for low scores in England. There is a reason why no asian team has won a series in Australia and South Africa. When Asian teams struggle to cope up with the pace of South African tracks or bounce of Australian tracks (although they have mellowed down a bit off late), the techniques of visiting batsmen come under the radar and become heavily scrutinised by experts. Most often the teams get blown away for a paltry total in the first innings on the first 2 days and thereafter it's only a case of finishing formalities. The Asian teams struggle to make a comeback thereafter in the match when they concede such a huge lead in the first dig.

But for some reason, the Asian fans have an inferiority complex and apologist attitude towards their own teams taking advantage of their home conditions. Apparently all the sub continental wickets should be flat for the first 3 days to give a nice and cozy welcome to the touring batsmen and should only start to turn in the last 2 days. If a ball starts turning on the first or second day, all hell breaks loose and the wicket is deemed poor. Why should asian and non asian batsmen be held to different standards. Shouldn't the faulty techniques of the visiting (or even the batsmen of the home team for that matter) against the turning ball be crticised?

I'm all for home teams taking advantage of their home conditions. There should be some diversity in tracks around the world. Earlier the English wickets used to assist swing, Australian and South African wickets pace and bounce, West Indian wickets pace, Asian wickets spin. Now since the conditions all over the world have got flatter (especially in LOIs), everyone wants every wicket to have the same template and start throwing a tantrum as soon as there is a sign of swing or turn. I don't mind greentops and square turners as long as the bounce is consistent. I didn't like the Nagpur wicket, I thought the bounce was very inconsistent on that wicket. But when people start whining about all tracks at the slightest sign of turn, it becomes a bit tiresome.

The problem here is that both teams struggle with the bat in India, I saw a stat on PP the other day that bat avg is India is 9 runs less than that in the UAE for example. If India were piling up 450+ scores like the Aussies usually do and the other sides crumbled, then it would have been a good point but that hasn't happened enough.
 
The problem here is that both teams struggle with the bat in India, I saw a stat on PP the other day that bat avg is India is 9 runs less than that in the UAE for example. If India were piling up 450+ scores like the Aussies usually do and the other sides crumbled, then it would have been a good point but that hasn't happened enough.

India piled on scores in WI 2011 tour of India.
Then in NZ 2012 tour.
Flopped in Eng 2012 tour (still had some 300s and one 500 I think - bound to happen with 4 over the hill batsmen).
Then piled 400, 500s regularly against Aus 2013 tour.
Then piled runs in WI 2013 tour.
Flopped in SA 2015 tour.
Did decent in NZ 2016 tour (some 300s and one 500...defo not great but not crappy too).
 
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The problem here is that both teams struggle with the bat in India, I saw a stat on PP the other day that bat avg is India is 9 runs less than that in the UAE for example. If India were piling up 450+ scores like the Aussies usually do and the other sides crumbled, then it would have been a good point but that hasn't happened enough.

I don't think you can judge pitches based on averages.

The leading wicket taker for New Zealand in their tour of the UAE, Mark Craig averaged 41 with the ball with a sr of 60.

The leading wicket taker for NZ in their tour of India, Santner averaged nearly 52 with the ball at a strike rate of 93. Mark Craig played just one match in India this time around and averaged around 70 or 80 with a sr of nearly 130.

Does that make the UAE wickets more conducive to turn than the Indian wickets?

There is a lower batting average in India because the current lot aren't as good as their predecessors against spin (although they are improving as a side).
 
Looks a normal pitch for Asia to me.
 
Looks like a late 3rd wicket, If Ind win the toss, they will win, If Eng bat 1st, they will have a chance.
 
Neither team needs to play a fast bowler. :)

India should go with 3 spinners and 1 pacer. Ashwin/Jaddu/Mishra + Shami are good enough to get 20 English wickets. India needs to worry about their batting without the services of Rahul at the top.

6 + 4 combination is the way to go.
 
Watching a preview for the England vs India series, Nasir Hussain said the India vs NZ series were played on pitches that were raging turners. [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=139664]street cricketer[/MENTION]
 
Watching a preview for the England vs India series, Nasir Hussain said the India vs NZ series were played on pitches that were raging turners. [MENTION=134809]sensible-indian-fan[/MENTION] [MENTION=139664]street cricketer[/MENTION]

What do you think?
 
What do you think?


It wasn't a raging turner at all. I don't think he watched the series at all. They were unsure weather India will go with 4/5 bowlers and what type of pitch it will be

I don't mind if India produce rank turners because it will get a result at least and they have there right to produce a pitch that suits them as the home team. I would like to see a pitch where it spins on day4/5, that may give England a chance. On a rank turner current England team doesn't stand a chance.
 
hahaha I think BCCI are trolling England.

Unfortunately, India's series to lose this one, no matter the surface.

England's spinners will have to get multiple 5fers to compete.
 
Why? It looks bloody flat! Open your eyes instead of playing to the sterotypes.

Calm your skin down. No need getting hyper over the internet and behind your keyboard. It's a question, not a statement.

Sheez :))
 
It wasn't a raging turner at all. I don't think he watched the series at all. They were unsure weather India will go with 4/5 bowlers and what type of pitch it will be

I don't mind if India produce rank turners because it will get a result at least and they have there right to produce a pitch that suits them as the home team. I would like to see a pitch where it spins on day4/5, that may give England a chance. On a rank turner current England team doesn't stand a chance.

I personally want good spin tracks against England. Not dull tracks or rank turners.

You are right. The only raging turner against NZ was Kanpur which did spin viciously for a period of 5-10 overs here and there then died out and went ok before coming alive again. Weirdest pitch in my life. Haha. The sudden fall of wickets in all innings in that test will attest to that.

I guess we can excuse Nasser for having those views cos he is a non-desi. What's more shocking is Pietersen's views on how to tackle Ashwin. Apparently if you watch out for his doosra (yes, doosra), you can play him. If not, you are dead meat. :)))
 
I personally want good spin tracks against England. Not dull tracks or rank turners.

You are right. The only raging turner against NZ was Kanpur which did spin viciously for a period of 5-10 overs here and there then died out and went ok before coming alive again. Weirdest pitch in my life. Haha. The sudden fall of wickets in all innings in that test will attest to that.

I guess we can excuse Nasser for having those views cos he is a non-desi. What's more shocking is Pietersen's views on how to tackle Ashwin. Apparently if you watch out for his doosra (yes, doosra), you can play him. If not, you are dead meat. :)))


India produce decent test pitches tbf much better than the roads in Australia and the dead pitches in uae.

Hahaha that was so weird, don't know what the groundsmen did for that pitch :))).

Loool imagine how would kp play Ashwin now. [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] wants him kp selected. Suprised he didn't say caron ball that would make more sense.
 
India produce decent test pitches tbf much better than the roads in Australia and the dead pitches in uae.

Hahaha that was so weird, don't know what the groundsmen did for that pitch :))).

Loool imagine how would kp play Ashwin now. [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] wants him kp selected. Suprised he didn't say caron ball that would make more sense.

I wish we had Pietersen vs Ashwin battle now.

What a player he was.

By doosra , he meant carrom only. Still his analysis is so amateurish and cliched.
 
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I personally want good spin tracks against England. Not dull tracks or rank turners.

You are right. The only raging turner against NZ was Kanpur which did spin viciously for a period of 5-10 overs here and there then died out and went ok before coming alive again. Weirdest pitch in my life. Haha. The sudden fall of wickets in all innings in that test will attest to that.

I guess we can excuse Nasser for having those views cos he is a non-desi. What's more shocking is Pietersen's views on how to tackle Ashwin. Apparently if you watch out for his doosra (yes, doosra), you can play him. If not, you are dead meat. :)))

Doosra aint coming.English boys gonna cream Ashwin then :murali
 
I wish we had Pietersen vs Ashwin battle now.

What a player he was.

By doosra , he meant carrom only. Still his analysis is so amateurish and cliched.

That battle would be fantastic, think Ashwin would get the better of KP some days and KP would do damage to Ashwin on some days.

Agreed on his analysis, don't know what channel 9 were thinking hiring him. Hopefully skysports stay away from him.
 
Of course, but I rather watch 5 full days, if not 4 full days and going into the 5th. No real issue with excitement over boring cricket tbh.

Each to his own, I personally prefer shorter but entertaining tests rather than matches where you have to wait till fourth day to find some entertainment.

There is already talk of four day tests and I believe spicier pitches is the way forward.
 
Is that the moon!!?

Bangladesh round 2, here we come.

What makes me laugh is the BCCI media machine getting Gangully to write articles on Indian pitches and even make him say he's hopeful the pitches will be "good" lol

India have this recipie down now and will continue to motor along with it. Expect another lottery 3 day game where even if one batsmen manages a big 50 it's likely to be a match winning innings
 
I guess you have a point but who is stopping the opposition spinners from landing the ball in the same area?

Nothing at all. Elgar, Tahir and Harmer had the test series of their life in India, while the series was alive.

I only have issues with people who start hyping Ashwin and Jadeja up as some great bowlers when all their success has come on pitches where part-timers can get vicious turn and huge success. Ashwin is a good bowler, Jadeja is a decent support bowler but that is all.
 
The curators on PakPassion got owned.

This has been an excellent day 1 pitch, with a bit for everyone. India would have been in a strong position but for the dropped catches.
 
Looks like a decent wicket which i think should be good for batting for 1st 3 days and then will probably crumble so big runs in 1st inns here is a must.
 
Nothing at all. Elgar, Tahir and Harmer had the test series of their life in India, while the series was alive.

I only have issues with people who start hyping Ashwin and Jadeja up as some great bowlers when all their success has come on pitches where part-timers can get vicious turn and huge success. Ashwin is a good bowler, Jadeja is a decent support bowler but that is all.

Tahir destroyed pak in UAE.

Bishoo had series of life in UAE. Matched Yasir's performance against WI team

Remember Mark Craig?

Btw they won the match for the team.

Any reason how they found it easier in UAE?
 
Bias is evident in this thread.

Its pretty flat, and not really too dry. Saurashtra Cricket Association are hosting their first test, and are worried about getting any warning from the ICC for the pitch. Will be a pitch where team batting first will expect to score 400+. Pitch will only get tough on Day 4/5, but will still be slow turn off the pitch - i.e. nothing will spit up from the rough. England can easily get a draw here.

World away from what was there in Bangladesh. But since Bangladesh isn't India....lets all say Rajkot will turn square and Chittagong was a 'sporting' wicket.

:bow: :bow: :bow:

You are a legend.

No one (even Indians) predicted that.
 
It should turn as the match progresses but yes, it was pretty good on the first day.
 
Looks like the Rajkot curator wants the match to go into 5th day and made a flat pancake.

A team that crumbled to a noob Bangla spinner just a week ago cannot improve so much to be at 300/4 at the end of Day-1 on Indian pitches.
 
I think, IND bowled poor & caught even worse on Day 1.

This is not a rank turner, but definitely not a wicket where ENG can finish 311/4 in Day 1. I think, after lunch, Ash got a bit "bemused", after being attacked in many months (probably since AUS tour), & he bowled poorly; bowled quite a few full tosses as well, while Virat got a bit defensive & didn't use Mishra.

This reminds me of the Chennai Test 2001 (AUS), where Bhaji pulled the game on 2nd morning from 352/3 or so to restrict AUS below 420 & then IND won by 2 wickets on last day. Unless, something better happens (ENG all-out by lunch for <370), don't think this 5 men batting unit will save this Test.
 
I think, IND bowled poor & caught even worse on Day 1.

This is not a rank turner, but definitely not a wicket where ENG can finish 311/4 in Day 1. I think, after lunch, Ash got a bit "bemused", after being attacked in many months (probably since AUS tour), & he bowled poorly; bowled quite a few full tosses as well, while Virat got a bit defensive & didn't use Mishra.

This reminds me of the Chennai Test 2001 (AUS), where Bhaji pulled the game on 2nd morning from 352/3 or so to restrict AUS below 420 & then IND won by 2 wickets on last day. Unless, something better happens (ENG all-out by lunch for <370), don't think this 5 men batting unit will save this Test.

It is a total pancake. The little turn that is out there is extremely slow and allowing batsmen ample time to adjust.

India did bowl poorly. Could have had England at 300/6 or something if the easy catches were taken.

England got an absolute gift from Rajkot curator. The best pitch a visiting team could hope for playing in India.
 
It is a total pancake. The little turn that is out there is extremely slow and allowing batsmen ample time to adjust.

India did bowl poorly. Could have had England at 300/6 or something if the easy catches were taken.

England got an absolute gift from Rajkot curator. The best pitch a visiting team could hope for playing in India.

Indian bowling (& fielding) made the pitch look flatter than it was.
 
^^

I think so - if there is 450 overs, IND won't save this match. ENG has scored big & scored fast. If they bat for another 200 minutes, IND will find themselves exposed in front of 500+ total & 300+ overs.

For ENG, Rashid is a poor bowler in low scoring matches - you can't buy 4/5 bottom half wickets for 90 in 20 overs, when any innings of 300 is almost match winning; but he is a dangerous customer, if he has the money to buy few wickets; while Moeen will keep things tight & Ansari guy will trouble the right handers. Besides, there will be reverse swing as west Gujrat weather is much drier than Dhaka & like CTG, Rajkot is close to sea shore.

India's only chance is to get ENG under 400, bat for 5 sessions & get a lead of at least 50 & then bowl them all-out for less than 200 again. That's 16 wickets for around 275 & batting of highest order in next 4 days - don't see happening. ENG's tail was extremely effective on turners in BD, from regular 100/5 situation - here they have a high platform & one quality spin player set at one end.
 
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