New Delhi: India, in the recently drawn Test match against Sri Lanka in Kolkata were totally outplayed on the first three days but they staged a late fightback to almost pull off an amazing win.
One of the major talking points during the last match was the pitch, which was a green top. Such a pitch tested the Indian batsmen which resulted in them being reduced to 74/5 at one point of time in the game. But if things are looked at from the perspective that the Indian team is using this series as a preparation before their challenging tour of South Africa early next year, then things do make sense.
As a matter of fact, India’s head coach Ravi Shastri has even asked for pitches which are, “lively greentops” and is, “hard and bouncy” for the next two Test matches -Nagpur (November 24) and Delhi (December 2) according to ESPN Cricinfo. This shows how much the team wants to replicate their Test success in overseas conditions as well.
Earlier also, skipper Virat Kohli had said that the team needed to win overseas but India hasn’t toured a country like England, Australia or South Africa for quite some time as it is in these conditions that batsmen generally tend to falter and make mistakes when the ball seems to swing and seam on a pitch.
Cheteshwar Pujara, India’s lone warrior in their first innings effort of 172 could play out the Sri Lankan seamers in those conditions using his county cricket experience. As a matter of fact, he had stated after his 52 in the first innings that playing county cricket has helped him evolve as a batsman.
Not only for the batsmen but such green and seamer-friendly pitches would also help India strengthen their bowling unit. Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who was the man of the match in the last game used the conditions to his advantage and wreaked havoc with the ball in both the innings. Although he scalped four wickets both times, his second innings effort was all the more important as he almost helped India win the match. Umesh Yadav and Mohammad Shami too bowled well.