Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori has explained how the conditions for Test matches in India have changed in recent years. Pitches in India have been a major talking point in recent years as most of the visiting teams have struggled even to challenge the hosts let alone winning a game.
India have not lost a series at home since 2012/13 season while they have lost just two Tests since 2017. Incidentally, both the defeats have come against Australia with the second one coming in the third game of the ongoing series. Pitches have hogged the spotlight in the ongoing series too.
The first three Tests ended inside three days with the last one ending in the first session of day 3. India beat Australia by an innings and 132 runs in the first Test before winning the second game by 6 wickets. In the third Test, Australia outplayed India on rank-turner, winning it by 9 wickets in less than 7 sessions.
Daniel Vettori on Indian pitches:
Following the third Test, India were once again accused of doctoring the pitches. Not only that, the ICC also gave a ‘poor’ rating to the pitch and slapped the venue with 3 demerit points. With the pitch hogging all the limelight, Daniel Vettori recently opened up on Indian conditions.
The former New Zealand skipper explained that the pitch conditions in the series had been far more difficult to bat on than the flatter wickets he had seen on tours during his playing days. He pointed how the Tests in India used to be high scoring ones unlike in recent times.
“They were always just a war of attrition, the wickets I played on,” Daniel Vettori was quoted as saying by Fox Sports.
“It was India won the toss and got 600, you could get 400 and hang on for dear life in the last couple of days. That’s normally how it played out – it was a real grind, it was day five, the result was still in the balance, then normally a draw or a win to India,” he added.
The fourth and final Test of the series is scheduled to be played from March 9 at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. India will be looking to bounce back and clinch the series after the shock loss in Indore.
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