Changing Nature of Indian wickets

[Salamuddin]

Guys, I've been meaning to discuss this article for a while now.......but never got round to it.

So here it is......
http://content.cricinfo.com/wac/content/story/144537.html
Siddhartha Vaidyanthan actually watches Indian dometic games and his article drew praise from none other than the doyen of Indian commentators, Harsha Bhogle.

Guys like SJS, Greg, HB, Deja Moo, Anil in particular might be interested among others.....

I follow Indian domestic cricket closely as well and it does confirm what I've suspected for some time......1) that more wickets around the country are offering assistance to pace bowlers 2) there are a greater number of pace bowlers coming thru in India than there have ever been and more importantly, putting their cases forward for national selection.


Thoughts ?

 

[Salamuddin]

And here is Harsha Bhogle's follow up article:


http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=64886

 

[Spetsnatz]

I'm not overly surprised. Another reason why I think England's pace bowlers may across
a pitch more to their liking in India than in Pakistan.


Playing on that Nagpur greentop would be nice

 

[Arjun]

One team that's definitely suffered because of the changing wickets is Baroda. None of their frontline batsmen averaged over 30 last season, and among their top 5 batsmen, you would find spinners Rajesh Pawar and Yusuf Pathan!

Even Mumbai haven't had it so easy. Amol Mazumdar and Vinit Indulkar had been averaging over 50, but when they played the Ranji semi and the Duleep matches, both averages sufferred. You still find a few mammoth scores put up once in a while, such as that giant partnership between Ravneet Ricky and Reetinder Sodhi of Punjab, and Sodhi went on to make 251*. Niraj Patel was a surprise package, and so was Venugopal Rao, as both topped the run charts.

 

[Deja moo]

One team that's definitely suffered because of the changing wickets is Baroda. None of their frontline batsmen averaged over 30 last season, and among their top 5 batsmen, you would find spinners Rajesh Pawar and Yusuf Pathan!
.

How does that make them suffer ? Arent bowlers part of a team too ?

 

[SJS]

How does that make them suffer ? Arent bowlers part of a team too ?

What is this Deja Moo ?? I am really disappointed in you.

Dont you know that cricket is all about big hundreds scored on dead-as-dodo tracks and great batsmanship is measured by number of slogs aimed at the fifteenth row on the top level !

Averages of batsmen in anything other than upper fifties is a clear sign of declining standards of the game - didnt you know ?

Dont you know that having spinners in a side is a sign of how far the game has degenerated in a state or country ??

Very disappointing.

 

[SJS]

And dont you know that when Babasaheb Nimbalkar was threatening the then world record for the highest first class innings score ever with his quadruple century against Kathiawar (I think) who wisely ran away without allowing him to tarnish their 'good' name with this ignominy, it was Indian cricket at its best and not when Bedi, Chandra, Prasanna and Co won matches by bowling teams out on wickets where it could be done.

That when captains like Bedi and later Kapil started asking the board for sporting wickets they were actually trying to scr** the paying spectator's happiness than batsmen who believed that playing out a draw over five days and batting the crowds to eternal sleep (read bliss) was the height of cricketting spectacle.

 

[Jono]

Both articles are excellent. It is interesting, and definitely good for cricket in the long-term.

 

[Deja moo]

And dont you know that when Babasaheb Nimbalkar was threatening the then world record for the highest first class innings score ever with his quadruple century against Kathiawar (I think) who wisely ran away without allowing him to tarnish their 'good' name with this ignominy, it was Indian cricket at its best and not when Bedi, Chandra, Prasanna and Co won matches by bowling teams out on wickets where it could be done.

That when captains like Bedi and later Kapil started asking the board for sporting wickets they were actually trying to scr** the paying spectator's happiness than batsmen who believed that playing out a draw over five days and batting the crowds to eternal sleep (read bliss) was the height of cricketting spectacle.

lol. The first incident was a beauty.. IIRC, there was a wedding involved too ( may not be true )..

 

[honestbharani]

The Chennai track has always had good bounce. I don't think that the pitch has changed too much because of relaying. Mumbai has generally helped seamers (Remember 2001) and now it seems to have gone the opposite way. But generally, these are good things that is happening in India. It is my belief that given how vast our country is, there should be all types of pitches available. There should be the rank turners, the dustbowls, the batters' paradises, the green tops, the lively wickets with a lot of bounce, the cool, wind induced swing inspiring wickets.... They should all be there so that our players are equipped to handle most conditions right from an early stage.

 

[SJS]

lol. The first incident was a beauty.. IIRC, there was a wedding involved too ( may not be true )..

Its not true.

Katiawar just decided to conced defeat and refused to take the field not wanting to go down in history as the team against which the highest ever first class score was made.