E-Paper
Sign in
Topsy-turvy pitch policy backfires on India
India faces scrutiny after a fourth home Test defeat under coach Gautam Gambhir, highlighting inconsistent pitch policies affecting team performance.
Kolkata: Two incontrovertible facts stand out in the wake of the humbling at Eden Gardens on Sunday — this is India’s fourth defeat in eight Tests at home since Gautam Gambhir’s appointment as head coach, the four wins having come against Bangladesh and West Indies. Secondly, there is a distinct inconsistency in India’s pitch policy, which has started to mess with their team selection, affecting their results.
There was an attempt at trying to prepare more balanced pitches against West Indies, with Ahmedabad flattening out after helping seamers at the beginning and Delhi playing low and slow. Ahmedabad lasted three days and Delhi all five days. Both times India didn’t see the need to go for six bowling options, keeping Axar Patel out of the eleven, the victories coming pretty easily.
What then possessed India to go for a pitch like Eden Gardens knowing well that South Africa had arrived with two spinners who had done fabulously in Pakistan and Bangladesh? “I felt that the curator was very, very helpful,” India head coach Gautam Gambhir said at the post-match media conference. “This is exactly what we wanted, and this is exactly what we got. When you don’t play well, this is what happens.”
If the pitch plays tricky, the thumb rule is that you can’t compromise on your batting ability as the bowlers have an undue advantage due to inconsistent bounce, if not early turn. But India went in with six genuine bowling options, leaving out B Sai Sudharsan. With a team in transition – the average age of the top five is around 26 – did it make sense to put them through a test like this?
“The point is that you should be able to know how to play turn. I still believe that irrespective of how the wicket was, 123 was chaseable,” said Gambhir. “And I felt that if you are willing to put your head down, and if you have a solid defence, if you have the temperament, you can definitely score runs.”
Gambhir has always felt throwing young players in the deep end helps them grow into tougher characters. But right now, there aren’t enough classical Test batters, apart from KL Rahul, who can apply themselves for long periods like Gambhir wants to. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant play attacking cricket so there is always an element of risk to their batting.
Slowly getting in the scheme of things, Dhruv Jurel too is prone to playing the odd risky shot. Axar Patel has been very useful with the bat, but to go for another big hit when 16 runs had already been scored off four balls in a Keshav Maharaj over wasn’t smart cricket.
Gambhir wants that to change. “Rather than thinking about pressure, you’ve got to start embracing pressure. And that is something which, when we play on wickets like these, or when we play in Indian conditions, when we are chasing in the fourth innings, we need to get better at.”
Washington Sundar bowled only one over in this Test, but looked pretty solid at No.3 in both innings. But the point about Washington is that unless he transforms into someone like Steve Smith — he started his career as a leg-spin bowling lower-order batter — his allrounder status might go against him when the Test eleven in South Africa or New Zealand is picked.
The approach is too ad hoc, which India can’t afford during this recalibration phase after the retirements of Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli. Rahul has taken Rohit’s spot and Shubman Gill prefers to bat at No.4, so someone must take No.3 long term. If that’s a toss-up between Washington and Sudharsan, or Devdutt Padikkal, a genuine top-order batter, then they must be made aware of it.
It might be worth noting that the selection would have been more straightforward had India prepared a typical subcontinent track that would have allowed for big first innings scores before aiding turn. India didn’t go down that road, but there could be a specific reason for this.
Between the 1-2 series defeat to England at home in 2012 and the 0-3 loss to New Zealand in late 2024, India had lost only four Tests. Two of them — Against England at Chennai in 2021 and Hyderabad at 2024 — were on pitches that facilitated high scores through the game. That probably has prompted this strategy of asking for pitches that are one step short of being called turners.
“We have always said we want turning wickets where the ball turns a little on day one so that the toss doesn’t become an important factor. We’ve never said we want to play on bad wickets or rank turners. Ultimately, if we had won, we wouldn’t be speaking about the pitch this much,” said Gambhir.
But India didn’t win. Which only raises the question if this was really worth it.
