*Official* 3rd Test at the Sardar Patel Sports Complex, Ahmedabad, 24 - 28 Feb 2021

[RossTaylorsBox]

The new thing will be clothing tech which changes the logos on player's shirts, you can switch them off if a player wearing your logo runs himself out or something.

 

[cnerd123]

Tough to blame them. It wasn’t immediately obvious that spin was the only way to go.

Axar was jagging it in session 1. IDK, seemed pretty obvious to me they should have gotten Leach on sooner. I even posted in the thread that they should have opened the bowling with him.

The landing area is definitely an issue but I think while this pitch had inconsistent turn, inconsistent bounce was very very rare. Then again, we only had 2 days. And Gill was keeping out some pretty low kept balls towards the end there.

The landing area is probably justification enough to deem the pitch poor tbh, even regardless of how the ball behaved.

 

[honestbharani]

The landing area is probably justification enough to deem the pitch poor tbh, even regardless of how the ball behaved.

True but again, it seemed to get so much worse only with the dew. I am not trying to excuse every issue here on the day-night rules but you have to factor in everything to get the full picture. It was definitely a stupid idea (speaking from hindsight, admittedly) to play the day-night test in a brand new stadium. The groundsmen and curator were fighting too many unknowns.

 

[cnerd123]

True but again, it seemed to get so much worse only with the dew. I am not trying to excuse every issue here on the day-night rules but you have to factor in everything to get the full picture. It was definitely a stupid idea (speaking from hindsight, admittedly) to play the day-night test in a brand new stadium. The groundsmen and curator were fighting too many unknowns.

ODIs and T20Is are played under lights with dew all the time and they never have landing areas get rekt like that. No excuses IMO. You can pardon them for the way the pink ball behaved, but not for the pitch falling apart.

 

[honestbharani]

ODIs and T20Is are played under lights with dew all the time and they never have landing areas get rekt like that. No excuses IMO. You can pardon them for the way the pink ball behaved, but not for the pitch falling apart.

Yeah but again, they never played those here, which is my point. You don't see how it behaves coz the pitch for the test is kept sacro sanct and maybe no one ever bowled on this till now.

 

[jimmy101]

Wouldn't have thought the redevelopment would have affected the pitch though? Unless they dug up the square when they demolished the old stands?

 

[cnerd123]

Yeah but again, they never played those here, which is my point. You don't see how it behaves coz the pitch for the test is kept sacro sanct and maybe no one ever bowled on this till now.

I don't think you need to have games on a surface in order to realise that the pitch you are producing will fall apart. Having spoken to a few groundsmen, I think they're more savvy than that. Otherwise it's a ridiculously risky move to hold a Test match as the first ever D/N game on a surface.

 

[honestbharani]

Otherwise it's a ridiculously risky move to hold a Test match as the first ever D/N game on a surface.

I feel this is the bigger issue, with hindsight of course. I mean, the landing area being poor was definitely bad and something they need to work on before the next test but if it was due to the dew, then it wont be such a big factor in a day game, which again makes it seem like had this been a day game it wont have been this bad, for various reasons.

 

[Burgey]

True and I definitely do think this was a bad pitch. Don't wanna repeat those points but we do have to consider the effect of this SG pink ball which apparently comes on much faster than the red one. Ultimately, day night cricket on a turner is still an unknown, we have only had grassy wickets for them till this one and there are all these other factors too, like dew. Ganguly is intent on having one day-night test per season though, so think they will get right soon enough.

I think it's probably the future everywhere tbh. As has been noted already, the real shame is they can't seem to get a white ball which lasts long enough to trial in tests, and tbh given the different conditions and pitches being prepped different to LO surfaces, it may well be the white ball would misbehave as well. Particularly if you're changing it every X overs because it gets harder to see.

I also agree this pitch was a poor one, unlike the second test. It's always understandable you'll be pissed off at a deck if you get skittled on it, but you can't really complain if the other side racks up decent scores. That's just on you not playing the conditions. This deck though felt like a lottery really.

Reading some posts saying it was all right because one bloke made 60 odd in the first dig or because India didn't lose a wicket chasing 40 in the last kind of misses the point that it was crazy variable in bounce and turn from the get go. It really becomes luck uber alles in that situation.

Still think England missed a trick not going ultra aggressive at the start of their second dig though, instead of prodding around like they did. Stokes coming in at 3 fer nothing and trying it was a real long shot. Probably should have opened with him and given him a license before the bowlers settled, come to think of it.

 

[Victor Ian]

Just regarding the lights, could they be tuned so maybe polaroid glasses cut out direct light, but not the reflected light, which is everything you want to see. Does the reflection alter polarisation?

 

[cnerd123]

crazy variable in bounce and turn from the get go

eh, not crazy variable in bounce, and the variation in turn is more down to the ball if you listen to what the players have to say

also white ball in Tests would necessitate coloured clothing. Won't be happening for that reason alone.

 

[honestbharani]

I also agree this pitch was a poor one, unlike the second test. It's always understandable you'll be pissed off at a deck if you get skittled on it, but you can't really complain if the other side racks up decent scores. That's just on you not playing the conditions. This deck though felt like a lottery really.

Reading some posts saying it was all right because one bloke made 60 odd in the first dig or because India didn't lose a wicket chasing 40 in the last kind of misses the point that it was crazy variable in bounce and turn from the get go. It really becomes luck uber alles in that situation.

Yeah no argument at all that batting was a bit of a lottery here which was NOT the case in Chennai in the 2nd test. I think Athlai hit the nail on the head in the other thread. This was a bad pitch but given the mitigating circumstances and this being the first game here, maybe a slap on the wrist instead of a proper punishment is on the cards.

 

[honestbharani]

Just regarding the lights, could they be tuned so maybe polaroid glasses cut out direct light, but not the reflected light, which is everything you want to see. Does the reflection alter polarisation?

Its a fine piece of geometrically precise construction (without pillars too for such a huge arena) but what it means is that out of every section of the stand, you get these little quadrangular boxes of sunlight seeping through as the sun sets on one side of the stadium. I am assuming the day game takes away a number of such disadvantages. Maybe this stadium is not ready for day-night tests as of now. Australia figured it out the hard way too, finally realizing Adelaide was best suited for day-night tests. It is a bit trial and error at the moment and I think England simply agreed coz of the off-chance that the pink ball test brought their seamers into play more.

 

[Spark]

Adelaide got picked for day-night Tests for commercial reasons I'm pretty sure; there's no reason they couldn't do it elsewhere (and save for the two fixed games at Melbourne and Sydney, they have).

 

[jimmy101]

Its a fine piece of geometrically precise construction (without pillars too for such a huge arena) but what it means is that out of every section of the stand, you get these little quadrangular boxes of sunlight seeping through as the sun sets on one side of the stadium. I am assuming the day game takes away a number of such disadvantages. Maybe this stadium is not ready for day-night tests as of now. Australia figured it out the hard way too, finally realizing Adelaide was best suited for day-night tests. It is a bit trial and error at the moment and I think England simply agreed coz of the off-chance that the pink ball test brought their seamers into play more.

TV viewership might have had a role in this too. A D/N Test in India is perfect timing for the English audience.

 

[honestbharani]

Adelaide got picked for day-night Tests for commercial reasons I'm pretty sure; there's no reason they couldn't do it elsewhere (and save for the two fixed games at Melbourne and Sydney, they have).

The game where Azhar Ali smashed his way to almost chasing down 450+, wasn't it at the MCG? I think over time you figure out which grounds are best for pink ball tests, at least as of now. If the pink ball improves to such an extent that you don't need anything specific from the pitch and the ground, then it perhaps doesn't matter, except for maybe dew considerations. But at the moment I think all host countries have to figure out which ground of theirs is best for pink ball cricket.

 

[Senile Sentry]

The new thing will be clothing tech which changes the logos on player's shirts, you can switch them off if a player wearing your logo runs himself out or something.

One day players will be holograms ..

 

[jimmy101]

 

[artvandalay]

I think probably need to start India Doom and Gloom thread.

Never have felt this empty inside after a long, by the margin of victory, a thorough rout.

I hope the curator will bring in a road roller and make it an absolute Keira Knightly for the last test. Our pampered batsmen would at least make a 400 on that.

this is England's pep talk done going into the last match tbf, India don't believe they can beat us on sporting pitches so feel the need to stack the deck against us. This is the sort of free hit game where you enhance your reputation if you play well and get pretty much a free pass if you fail.

 

[Spark]

The game where Azhar Ali smashed his way to almost chasing down 450+, wasn't it at the MCG? I think over time you figure out which grounds are best for pink ball tests, at least as of now. If the pink ball improves to such an extent that you don't need anything specific from the pitch and the ground, then it perhaps doesn't matter, except for maybe dew considerations. But at the moment I think all host countries have to figure out which ground of theirs is best for pink ball cricket.

That was at Brisbane (it was Asad Shafiq)