No Square Turner In Mohali As Curator Claims Sporting Track Is Being Prepared
Nov 24, 2016 at 3:56 PM
Visiting India has been nothing short of a nightmare for the teams in the last few years. With the pitches being a square turner, the opposition teams have been thrashed poorly by India. The likes of South Africa, Australia, New Zealand were totally blown away by the hosts. In fact, the International Cricket Council rated one of the pitches during the South Africa series as poor.
Well, England should consider themselves very lucky now in this regard. Trailing 1-0 in the five-match series after the loss in the second Test, Alastair Cook’s men have been given decent good pitches to play on. While the Rajkot pitch was a batting paradise, the Vizag pitch became more dangerous for its uneven bounce. As a result, the visitors have performed better than the other teams. In the four batting innings so far, England have batted more than 100 overs on three occasions – a clear sign that of the pitches not being a spitting cobra.
With the third Test to be played in Mohali, there were speculations that the pitch, which has traditionally assisted pacers, might aid the England fast bowlers. However, Mohali curator, Daljit Singh,who was severely criticised for preparing a bouncy wicket in 1994 when the venue hosted its first ever Test match, has quashed all those speculations by saying that the pitch is unlikely to provide as much assistance to the pacers as it used to do in yesteryears.
Speaking to mid-day, Daljit said:“This is a 23-year-old pitch so you can’t expect it to behave the same way as it did 15-20 years ago. The bounce and carry that was there, in the beginning, will definitely not be there. Its top surface has undergone considerable changes in all these years although you can’t call it major changes.”
When asked whether the pitch will assist the spinners, he said:“There is still a lot of time before the first ball is bowled in the third Test so I can’t comment now. All I can say is that we are making a sporting track with something for everybody— batsmen, fast bowlers and spinners.”
Daljit also revealed that he has not received any instruction from the team management on making the pitch.
“No instructions of any kind have come to me from anywhere,” he insisted.
Meanwhile, former England skippers Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton has also given their verdict on the Mohali pitch.
Here is a clip of their assessment of the pitch:
First look at Mohali pitch with @Wardyskycricket @Athersmike and @nassercricket
Live coverage of 3rd Test, Sky Sports 2, Saturday 3.30am pic.twitter.com/Wbf2Q7IbjD— Sky Sports Cricket (@SkyCricket) November 24, 2016