Five-day draw or Two-day result: Why pitches in India become the 'Bad Guy'?

Boring, bore-fest, belter - these were the terms coined when the bat did all the talk in a few of the Test matches in India. Rank-turner, unfit, poor - these are the terms, now used in the context of the pitch when the bowlers have started to rule the roost.

If batsmen do well, pitches become boring, if bowlers do well, pitches again become the culprit and are even termed 'unfit'. So, where should the pitches go? They play well, they become boring, they turn and they become useless. Why not decide on one thing and stick to the same?

What has happened in the series thus far?

Take for example the ongoing series, England won the toss in the first match of the series, they piled on runs, big first innings score, the scoreboard pressure meant the home side fell well short of their total. The match went till the fifth day, but produced a result, in favour of the visitors, so obviously no complaints.

Come to the second Test, it starts to turn from Day 1. Even with all that, Indian managed to put a total on the board, 329 to be exact. The turn obviously troubled the Englishmen and they were bowled out for 134. Second innings, India were almost in a similar position before Ravichandran Ashwin bailed them out to help them post 286, with an aggressive and intelligent century.

Now, the murmurs started doing the rounds about the pitch, moment England were bowled out for 134. No one questioned the batsmen's techniques, no one praised bowlers and their accuracy, effectiveness, the pitch was at the receiving end again.

Either it's boring, or it has demons, nothing in between

Now let's jog back our memory further, this time to the Pune Test. Not the one, you are thinking where Steve Smith stood tall and the other Steve (O'Keefe) bamboozled, but the one in 2019 against South Africa. India batted first, but they kept batting. They just kept batting. First Mayank, then skipper Virat Kohli, they just couldn't stop scoring runs.

Owing to the skipper's marathon 254*-run knock, India posted a 601/5d score. That's a huge first innings score and this was the main focus of Root's English side before the series started, to put up a massive first innings score and bat the opposition out of the game. So, when that score made its presence on the scorecard, many felt, Indian pitches have become belters, they produce batsmen-friendly wickets. These scorelines make Test cricket boring and so on and so forth. 

Now, after the England side were successful in doing the exact same thing in the first Test, they couldn't replicate in the third at the Narendra Modi Stadium. When batsmen score runs, they batted well, they used the conditions to their advantage, they did everything right. But when the same batting line-up gets bowled out for 112 after a massive 578 in the first, it's the pitch, who's the culprit here. Why did it turn so big on the first day? Why did it have an uneven turn? How did ICC approve this kind of surface? No one questions batsmen's techniques or poor defence. And bowlers? Who are they?

Where's the rulebook?

The game should allow both batsmen and bowlers to be equally there in the game. Yes, more often than not, it should. But is there any rule book that it has to happen every single time? If batsmen score hundreds and double hundreds, they have done the hard yards and ground out to make something very significant. However, if bowlers do the same, pitch it in an area of uncertainty, bowl consistent lines and lengths and if they are rewarded, here also pitch takes the blame.

Why not give it to the bowlers once, when they have actually bowled well and got the result. Cricket, in general, can be very hard on the bowlers, especially the shorter formats. But, if bowlers are able to get that sort of success in Test cricket, a few times, why not heap praise on them rather than blaming the pitch for not being fit.

If it turns, it has demons on it, it becomes unplayable. But if on green tracks, the ball seams, it's okay, because it is its natural behaviour. So now, if you expect the ball to seam at 145 at a bounce of chest-length in the sub-continent, then that's a problem in your judgement, not with the pitch.

Then where will 'home advantage' go?

The ball will grip, it will turn. It happens in India on a regular basis, not a new thing, Yes, the degree of the turn varies from surface to surface. So, the batsmen and bowlers visiting have to adjust. That's why there's a term called 'home advantage'. The home side will prepare tracks, which suit them. It brings in other terms like familiarity for the hosts and acclimatisation for the visitors.

New Zealand wrapped up India in two matches in a total of five days. No one questioned the pitch, or the demons in it if there were any. There were praises for the New Zealand team and criticism for the Indian side. I guess that's how it should be, isn't it? If you don't play well, people will criticise and if they don't, they find pitch as the guinea pig. India's captain and coach termed that Adelaide humiliation as '45 minutes of madness'. But was that madness blamed on the pitch?

'This happens only in India', is a famous Hindi film song, but didn't know that this would fit the bill when something like criticism related to pitch is concerned.

That's why overseas Test wins are given so much more importance. That's why that 'Gabba ka ghamand tootna' was so valuable, that will be etched in Indian cricket fans' memory.