***Official*** South Africa in India 2015

[Burner]

Why should such pitches be acceptable at test level even. Careers are on the line. Some one has two bad tests in this series and it can hamper their career.

I really hope that was a joke. Otherwise, might as well stop playing cricket, careers on the line

 

[Dan]

BTW ready to admit Vijay is modern Bradman yet?

No.

 

[harsh.ag]

No.

This is why you lose BOTM finals.

 

[cnerd123]

Agree with harsh. Dan needs to start sucking up to the Indian bloc more.

 

[honestbharani]

Agree with harsh. Dan needs to start sucking up to the Indian bloc more.

Learn from Sutherland, Dammit Dan...

 

[Dissector]

The difference between Nagpur and Nottingham | Cricket | ESPN Cricinfo
Good article by Karthik Krishnaswamy. Ultimately the problem with pitches like Nagpur is that the cricket they produce is limited.

This is why the classic subcontinental pitch starts out firm and flat. On day one, there is consistent pace and bounce, even if not in liberal measure, and a bit of spin. Fast bowlers can expect the new ball to swing for a short while, and the old ball to reverse, and in most cases get edges to carry to the keeper and slips. But the first two and a half days, by and large, are good for batting. First-innings totals are often big, but that is no guarantee of a win or draw. By day four, wear and tear could leave the pitch behaving like the Nagpur pitch did on day one.

Such a pitch produces multi-dimensional cricket, rewarding both sound defensive batting and sound attacking batting, quality quick bowlers blessed with either pace or swing, particularly reverse, and accurate spinners, particularly those who can beat batsmen in the air.

A pitch such as Nagpur - or Mohali during the first Test - produces cricket that is predictable and repetitive. Spinners fire the ball in quick, batsmen hope they get enough bad balls to score from before the inevitable good one comes along, and 200 is often a match-winning first-innings total. The entire match is often done and dusted - pun intended - within three days. .

Personally I think one such pitch in a series is acceptable but two in three games is too much.

 

[Howe_zat]

Completely agree that cricket would lose a lot if all pitches were like this one. But I'll worry about that when it happens.

 

[honestbharani]

Agree with both Howe and Dissector.

 

[Pratters]

I really hope that was a joke. Otherwise, might as well stop playing cricket, careers on the line

2 out of the tests have been on such pitches and one was washed out. If it was a one off it could be considered a novelty and ok as I mentioned. This is not the same though.

 

[Pratters]

Agree with harsh. Dan needs to start sucking up to the Indian bloc more.

The Indian block will always be like NAM. No one needs to suck upto it.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Why should such pitches be acceptable at test level even. Careers are on the line. Some one has two bad tests in this series and it can hamper their career.

This is the lamest reason you've come up with yet.

 

[Pratters]

Yeah, sure. Try telling it to Stiaan van Zyl who averages 11 after 3 tests in the series.

 

[OverratedSanity]

I seriously don't understand what you're trying to say here. This pitch is bad because van Zyl sucks against off spin and has no idea how to handle the conditions because he's never played in them before? Wish Virat Kohli got this sympathy when his test average got murdered in England. Poor Virat lost all confidence on his outside off stump leaves because of those evil seaming English pitches. He'll never be the same

 

[Pratters]

Van zyl had an okay tour of Bangladesh and had a fairly ok career till now. However, this series has messed up his averages because of extreme conditions. In the competitive world of South African cricket, it can hurt him as he is a new player to the team, unlike Faf or Virat say who had a bigger run. It's not that difficult to understand what I am saying really.

 

[harsh.ag]

But the pitches have provided impetus to Elgar's prospects. With one hand he taketh away, with the other he giveth.

 

[Pratters]

Elgar averages 23 after 3 tests. Sure, he has shown doggedness by lasting at the wicket. However, it doesn't mean a lot if he doesn't make runs in the future. Now, please don't tell me that holds good for every one. The initial point was the current series isn't very helpful to players as some one is far more likely to have a bad series and it can hamper their careers.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Van zyl had an okay tour of Bangladesh and had a fairly ok career till now. However, this series has messed up his averages because of extreme conditions. In the competitive world of South African cricket, it can hurt him as he is a new player to the team

Uhhh... Boohoo?

 

[Pratters]

Uhhh... Boohoo?

uh. You guys have been wahhing really.

 

[indiaholic]

uh. You guys have been wahhing really.

 

[OverratedSanity]

The initial point was the current series isn't very helpful to players as some one is far more likely to have a bad series and it can hamper their careers.

Yes but why should anyone care?

It's not the job of a test match pitch to keep the feelings of a young batsman in mind. This is test cricket ffs.