India head coach Rahul Dravid revealed that the team management does not ask for rank turners when playing at home conditions and stated that it is difficult for anyone to forecast how a specific surface will play out over five days in a Test.
The first Test between India and England was played in Hyderabad on what many consider to be a very competitive surface in India and the surface for the second test appeared to be similar. The previous series against England in 2021 and Australia last year were played in spin-friendly conditions, with the bulk of games lasting only three days.
Speaking with the media, When asked if additional pitches like Vizag may be seen in the following three Tests, Rahul Dravid admitted he was as uninformed as everyone else about the pitch conditions and believes that surfaces in India usually offers turn during Day 4 and 5 of the game.
“Curators make the pitches. We don’t ask for rank turners. Obviously tracks in India would spin, how much they’ll spin, how less they’ll spin, how much. I’m not an expert, obviously, wickets in India in the course of four or five days, they do turn but how much they’re going to turn,” Rahul Dravid said.
The pitches were a key talking point before the series. Following India’s two-day loss in Cape Town, Rohit Sharma chastised the ICC for using different standards on Indian pitches, citing poor ratings for the ODI World Cup final surface.
I’m Sometimes As Clueless As Anybody Else – Rahul Dravid
Rahul Dravid believes that it is sometimes impossible to predict how the pitch will turn and revealed that he, like everyone else, has no idea how the pitch will behave over the next five days and that the team usually plans on looking at the wicket in front of them and playing accordingly.
“I sometimes get told they’ll turn on the third day, but they turn on the first day. Sometimes I get told they’ll turn on the second day and they don’t turn till day four, So I’m sometimes as clueless as anybody else. We look at the wicket and we try and do the best we can on what we get. We go to Rajkot, we’ll see what we can get and play with whatever we get in front of,” Rahul Dravid added.
Following India’s loss in the Hyderabad Test, the Vizag Pitch came under scrutiny. While India was bowled on a spinning track in Hyderabad, the Vizag pitch stayed sluggish and flat. India came back strongly, tying the series at 1-1.
