Debate around pitches has been a common feature throughout Australia's four-Test tour of India. It only intensified during the third Test in Indore, where the pitch was given a “poor” rating by the ICC. The pitch offered prodigious help for spinners right from the first hour of the first session but interestingly, it was Australia's batters who fared better than India and the visitors ended up winning the match itself by a comprehensive nine-wicket margin.
Former Australia batter Matthew Hayden was among those who criticised the pitch, as did former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar. However, Michael Kasprowicz, the former Australia fast bowler who was among the architects of the team's first Test win in India in 29 years back in 2004, has said that there has been nothing unusual about the pitches he has seen in this series compared to what is normally seen in India.
"I don’t believe the hype I reckon because for all the attention around the pitches they were typically Indian wickets," Kasprowicz told The Age. "I realise this last one in Indore did a few tricks early on, but because they’re starting so early (9.30am), maybe that little bit of moisture helps grab the ball. But at other stages later in the day, it wasn’t doing anything like that."
Both sides could not score over 200 runs in their four innings and Australia spinner Nathan Lyon took nine wickets in the match. Meanwhile, Matthew Kuhnemann took a five wicket haul in the first innings while India's Ravindra Jadeja took a four-wicket haul within less than a session on the first day.
{{/usCountry}}Both sides could not score over 200 runs in their four innings and Australia spinner Nathan Lyon took nine wickets in the match. Meanwhile, Matthew Kuhnemann took a five wicket haul in the first innings while India's Ravindra Jadeja took a four-wicket haul within less than a session on the first day.
{{/usCountry}}"When I say don’t believe the hype, I know the odd ball was turning square, and it got a poor rating," said Kasprowicz, who was part of the Australia team which won their only series in India back in 2004.
“But I remember turning up to the Bangalore Test in 1998, and I’ve got a picture of me standing on the wicket. It honestly looks like a dry creek bed. There’s no grass, but it’s got these cracks and spider cracks all down the whole face of it. And you just go well, like that’s what we’re gonna play on. And guess what? We’ve got to adapt and adjust. That’s the game of Test cricket,” he said.
The “poor” rating for the Indore pitch meant that the Holkar Stadium received three demerit points. “The pitch, which was very dry, did not provide a balance between bat and ball, favouring spinners from the start. The fifth ball of the match broke through the pitch surface and continued to occasionally break the surface providing little or no seam movement and there was excessive and uneven bounce throughout the match,” said match referee Chris Broad.