NEW DELHI: All 3 Tests of the current race Border-Gavaskar Trophy so far have finished in three days thanks to the proposed rank turners, but India manager Rahul Dravid defended the wickets on Tuesday saying the World Trials Championship points encourage countries to prepare results-oriented presentations.
While the Nagpur and Delhi grounds escaped with an “average” rating by the ICCthe Nagpur ground, where the match ended in 7 sessions, was described as “poor” by match referee Chris Broad.
The pitches were too rotationally favorable, failing to provide a balanced contest, and batters on both sides struggled to get into the dust bowls.
“I won’t go into that too much. The match referee has the right to share his opinion. It doesn’t matter if I agree with his reading or not. It doesn’t matter what I think. But sometimes, with WTC points at stake, you tend to play on wickets that produce results,” Dravid was blunt in his defense of the three runs in Nagpur, Delhi and Indore.
However, he failed to mention that analysis of trail data prepared by local teams over the past few years has shown that 22-yard strips in most places have been difficult.
“It can happen, not only in India but all over the world if you see, sometimes it is difficult to get that balance perfectly for everyone and it can happen not only here but also in other places,” the man with 164 Test matches under his belt says.
Dravid gave a small idea of what was the trigger behind the request for this kind of raging turners. It was the 2021 test match at Kanpur against New Zealand where India failed to pick up nine wickets on the final day.
“There is a huge premium on results and if you draw like we did in Kanpur against New Zealand, it takes you back to a home game. When you have 12 for a win and 4 for a draw, you want to win before a draw,” he said.
There was a hint of sarcasm and irritation when he spoke of the tracks in South Africa where India contested three Tests early last year.
“We’ve also played on tough wickets when we go overseas. We’ve played in South Africa recently (2022) where spinners have been taken out of the game completely,” he said dryly.
“And everybody wants to produce wickets where ultimately you want results. You’ll probably prepare wickets where the ball has a bit more grip on the bat and that’s necessary and that’s part of the game,” Dravid doesn’t did not deny the bowlers advantage.
Batting performance requires a bit of hindsight
India has just one century among the top hitters, scored by skipper Rohit Sharma, while Cheteshwar Pujara is the only other player with a score over 50.
“You have to be realistic about what is a good performance on these tough wickets, not only here, but if you look at the last three to four years, wickets have generally gotten tough everywhere.
“So you have to be realistic about the current benchmarks, the standards on these kinds of surfaces, just one good performance can be a game-changer. We’ve seen that with Rohit’s performance (in Nagpur) and we’ve seen that.”
On these titles, Dravid, indeed, does not even expect a double cent or a ‘Daddy Hundred’.
“It might not be a double hundred but a 50-60 or 70 somewhere, but it could actually be a very, very good score under certain conditions.”
Someone cheekily asked about the reviews, saying that during the head coach’s playing days there were good batting strips on offer and 550 more being scored.
While the Nagpur and Delhi grounds escaped with an “average” rating by the ICCthe Nagpur ground, where the match ended in 7 sessions, was described as “poor” by match referee Chris Broad.
The pitches were too rotationally favorable, failing to provide a balanced contest, and batters on both sides struggled to get into the dust bowls.
“I won’t go into that too much. The match referee has the right to share his opinion. It doesn’t matter if I agree with his reading or not. It doesn’t matter what I think. But sometimes, with WTC points at stake, you tend to play on wickets that produce results,” Dravid was blunt in his defense of the three runs in Nagpur, Delhi and Indore.
However, he failed to mention that analysis of trail data prepared by local teams over the past few years has shown that 22-yard strips in most places have been difficult.
“It can happen, not only in India but all over the world if you see, sometimes it is difficult to get that balance perfectly for everyone and it can happen not only here but also in other places,” the man with 164 Test matches under his belt says.
Dravid gave a small idea of what was the trigger behind the request for this kind of raging turners. It was the 2021 test match at Kanpur against New Zealand where India failed to pick up nine wickets on the final day.
“There is a huge premium on results and if you draw like we did in Kanpur against New Zealand, it takes you back to a home game. When you have 12 for a win and 4 for a draw, you want to win before a draw,” he said.
There was a hint of sarcasm and irritation when he spoke of the tracks in South Africa where India contested three Tests early last year.
“We’ve also played on tough wickets when we go overseas. We’ve played in South Africa recently (2022) where spinners have been taken out of the game completely,” he said dryly.
“And everybody wants to produce wickets where ultimately you want results. You’ll probably prepare wickets where the ball has a bit more grip on the bat and that’s necessary and that’s part of the game,” Dravid doesn’t did not deny the bowlers advantage.
Batting performance requires a bit of hindsight
India has just one century among the top hitters, scored by skipper Rohit Sharma, while Cheteshwar Pujara is the only other player with a score over 50.
“You have to be realistic about what is a good performance on these tough wickets, not only here, but if you look at the last three to four years, wickets have generally gotten tough everywhere.
“So you have to be realistic about the current benchmarks, the standards on these kinds of surfaces, just one good performance can be a game-changer. We’ve seen that with Rohit’s performance (in Nagpur) and we’ve seen that.”
On these titles, Dravid, indeed, does not even expect a double cent or a ‘Daddy Hundred’.
“It might not be a double hundred but a 50-60 or 70 somewhere, but it could actually be a very, very good score under certain conditions.”
Someone cheekily asked about the reviews, saying that during the head coach’s playing days there were good batting strips on offer and 550 more being scored.
“Nobody wants extremes but it can happen. I won’t divulge personal conversations with my players and everyone wants to win and qualify.”
(With PTI entries)
