The pitch at Chinnaswamy Stadium had always favoured the batsmen, and with short boundaries, Bengaluru was always a run haven in the subcontinent.

However, things have changed drastically over the past year as the pitch started playing to be true and was on the slower side. However, KSCA are preparing a decent ODI pitch for the fourth ODI match between India and Australia.

“I won’t say it will be full of runs, but it will be a decent ODI pitch. It should make for an evenly-poised game,” said assistant curator Prashanth Rao. “During the IPL, although the pitch was on the slower side, teams had no complaints, and we got to see good contests.”

The pitch in the Indian Premier League has made the contest between bat and ball even as scores came down from 200s to an average of 150 at the venue. The same has been the case for India and Australia when they played the second test before IPL.

The game ended in less than three days as India clinched a memorable 75 run victory in the city. However, Prasanth believes that the match came little too early as the pitch was not entirely settled back then.

“We had just refurbished the pitch. That Test match perhaps came a little too early. But it still played largely true,” said Prashanth.

India have already won the series 3-0 with two games to go. But the primary concern for the game is the forecast of heavy rains in Bengaluru over the next 48 hours which could seriously hamper the chances of a complete game on Thursday.

With pitch set to stay under covers for a considerable time, expect it to play true to fast bowlers as well in the first innings.