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News India Live, Digital Desk: Whenever a foreign team visits India, the ‘turning track’ i.e. a special pitch made for spinners is talked about the most. Often this bet goes in favor of India. But, what if this move backfires? Something similar was seen in the second Test match against South Africa at Eden Gardens, Kolkata, where India’s condition worsened on the rotating pitch prepared in its own home.
After this defeat, while questions were being raised on the technique of the Indian batsmen, Gautam Gambhir, former opening batsman of Team India and now in the queue to become the coach, has come out in defense of his players.
“The real enemy is the pitch, not the batsman” – Gambhir
Gautam Gambhir, as always, expressed his frank opinion and said that it is wrong to completely blame the batsmen for such a defeat. He said that when you make too many revolving and unpredictable pitches from the first day, you leave the game to fate. On such pitches, it becomes almost impossible for even the biggest batsmen of the world to score runs.
Gambhir argued that the role of the toss increases greatly on such pitches, giving the team batting first a slight advantage. He clearly said that before criticizing the batsmen, one should first ask whether they want such pitches for Test cricket where the game ends in three days.
What happened in Guwahati, why not in Kolkata?
Gambhir further strengthened his point by giving the example of the last match held in Guwahati, where the Indian batsmen had performed brilliantly on a good and balanced pitch. “When players can score runs on good pitches, the problem is not in their technique but in pitches that are fit for a Test match,” he said.
He stressed that we need to have confidence in our strength (spin bowling) so that we do not spoil the game. A good Test match pitch is one where there is a level playing field for both batsmen and bowlers.
This statement of Gambhir would have given rise to a big debate that India now needs to rethink its strategy of making a lot of turning tracks to win in any situation? Or is it just a case of one match where our move backfired?
