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

[Spark]

Yeah the closest I can think of re: Australian/South African pitches are pitches with massive cracks on them - and the big plate ones that criss-cross the pitch in particular, not the scary looking longitudinal cracks which look scary but rarely get hit - and you can bet that people would complain if those were actually a problem on Days 1 and 2 of a game.

 

[honestbharani]

People would moan like **** if what was happening with pace in SENA was inconsistent like it has been here today with spin. If its hooping loads in SENA it'll do that every ball and if you're getting inconsistent bounce on day 1/2 in SENA I don't think you'd find anybody who thought that it wasn't a dangerous pitch.

Gabba did that on day 2 though and they even talked about in the Channel 7 show. Sometimes wicket don't deteriorate the way you think they will. Which was the case in Chennai in the 2nd test too.

None of that means this pitch was ok though. But I already pointed out why I am willing to give a benefit of doubt to the pitch and curator here.

 

[Lillian Thomson]

Anyway, congratulations to India. Fully deserved to win. I hope for the next Test our Number 3 won’t have been walking his dog on the Yorkshire Moors the previous week.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah the closest I can think of re: Australian/South African pitches are pitches with massive cracks on them and you can bet that people would complain if those were actually a problem on Days 1 and 2 of a game.

Gabba literally had a huge crack short of good length outside off for the right hander all throughout the game this year.

 

[Kirkut]

@Flem274* to comment

I take back what I said, just checked the scorecards of that tour, the conditions seemed relatively merciful.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

Root brought up a very good point that the pink ball seems to come on faster than the red one. Maybe had they played a regular red ball test here, the straight balls could have been negotiated better.

I agree more with Root's post match interview than Virat's FTR. I dont think the pitch is "poor" as in it causes physical danger but it was definitely inconsistent and that makes batting a bit of a lottery and that is not always good for cricket.

I hope it is an one off due to the curator still getting to know how the wickets behave and the pink ball + day/night effects.

We will soon find out in the next Test here with the red ball.

 

[sunilz]

SM humour :

The joke is on you if you had expected a fair pitch on a stadium named after politician.

 

[honestbharani]

Anyway, congratulations to India. Fully deserved to win. I hope for the next Test our Number 3 won’t have been walking his dog on the Yorkshire Moors the previous week.

Moor.. Dog... Sherlock........ ?

 

[Spark]

Gabba literally had a huge crack short of good length outside off for the right hander all throughout the game this year.

See the edit. I mean the plate cracks in particular that genuinely play a significant role throughout the game; those longitudinal cracks often look a lot scarier than they really are because they're really hard to hit.

 

[nightprowler10]

Wouldn't argue with you on that at all! And the game was in the favour of the bowlers. But it's a little tough to draw a line when it comes to the pitches, I mean we are all OK with the ball offering too much help to pace bowlers(whether in terms of bounce, swing or pace) in SENA.

I think rank turners are a bit worse in the sense that the opposition's top pacers will get tired and lose their venom a LOT faster than spinners.

Also, fast bowling takes a fair bit more skill than spin.

 

[honestbharani]

SM humour :

The joke is on you if you had expected a fair pitch on a stadium named after politician.

How was the pitch "unfair" though? Unfair for batsmen, maybe but it was the same for both sides

 

[ankitj]

If it was the plastic coating of the pink ball that made some skid on then that would make some sense. I've never seen a pitch where there was such an extreme difference where a ball would absolutely rip like crazy out of nowhere, and the next ball would behave as if the pitch was an entirely placid road, with no real rhyme or reason behind which ball would do what.

Nature of the ball did play a role.

The secret to Axar Patel's success: go straight and undercut

What he has achieved since slotting into India's attack is to make viewers almost forget that Jadeja is out injured

www.espncricinfo.com

"I feel there's a little more glare (shine) on the pink ball, because of which the ball was skidding a little more off the wicket, and I got the lbw decisions because of that," Axar said in his press conference at the end of the day's play on Wednesday. "Maybe because of this difference between the red ball and the pink ball, I was getting the ball to skid more off this pitch than the one in Chennai."

 

[MW1304]

Cook is such an honest pundit.

He's obviously not the most eloquent but I'm finding him a pretty good pundit in general. There was a TMS podcast during the 2nd Test with a segment of Michael Vaughan tediously repeating the same talking point for about 20 minutes, contrasted with a much shorter Cook segment that provided a far more considered analysis.

TMS really need to stop giving that clown all the airtime.

 

[honestbharani]

See the edit. I mean the plate cracks in particular that genuinely play a significant role throughout the game; those longitudinal cracks often look a lot scarier than they really are because they're really hard to hit.

Try saying that to Pujara.

 

[honestbharani]

We will soon find out in the next Test here with the red ball.

They have 11 other pitches though. I do think we will get a regular patta wicket. If England lose the toss though, we may see more SM whining.

 

[Spark]

Try saying that to Pujara.

Cummins actually wrote an interesting piece/interview recently about that spell, it's worth checking out.

 

[sunilz]

This series feels like 2015 SA tour all over again.

 

[Manee]

Apologies if discussed already but reading transcripts from Root and Kohli's interview and it seems both have put it down to poor batting by both teams.

 

[KungFu_Kallis]

They have 11 other pitches though. I do think we will get a regular patta wicket. If England lose the toss though, we may see more SM whining.

I think it depends on who makes the pitch decision and how much they care about the world test championship and whether they try to play it safe - India only need a draw to make the final. Or whether they roll the rice and go for more blood on another turner.

 

[Spark]

Apologies if discussed already but reading transcripts from Root and Kohli's interview and it seems both have put it down to poor batting by both teams.

That doesn't mean much though. For different reasons albeit, neither one of them is exactly about to slag off the pitch as a shocker, even if they think it is.