The former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly always talks about sporting pitches. He does not prefer flat wicket where Indian batsmen get runs easily. Sourav feels that India will surpass England in the upcoming five-Test series against England. But, he thinks BCCI should make more sporting wickets if they want to develop a bowling unit capable of winning consistently in overseas conditions.
“I think the wickets are going to be good. And India should be playing on good pitches. I firmly believe they will continue to be unbeatable at home. But if you want to be a good bowling unit overseas, where your spinners come into play and win you Test matches,” Sourav said.
“Ashwin and [Ravindra] Jadeja will have to learn bowling on good first-day, second-day pitches, where there is no turn, where you have got to bowl the right line and right length. And on day four, day five, the game will change very quickly in these conditions,” he added.
Ganguly is very much impressed in the way Ravichandran Ashwin bowls in the spin-friendly conditions. “There was never a doubt about him as a bowler in these conditions. If you look at his record in the first 12-13 Test matches in the subcontinent, he has got 100 wickets. There is always a question mark on how he bowled in England and Australia and South Africa. And there’s definitely an improvement on that. He has definitely got better in those conditions,” Ganguly said.
“He has continued to thrive on these turning pitches. I don’t think it is that difficult bowling on these turning pitches. You see Jadeja, his record home and away is like chalk and cheese. Ashwin will be very, very dangerous in this squad. Jadeja as well. Pitches turning. Fast. Hitting the rough and turning it away. He will be very, very hard to get away. So England will have to bat very well in the first innings. Toss will be crucial. They will be looking to win the toss and bat first. Lots of things will affect how this series goes but Ashwin is going to be a huge threat,” he added.
