IND vs ENG: Should the pitches be talked about so much? | India vs England Test series review: Should pitches make up for so much of debate around such a high-profile series?
The recently-concluded India-England Test series was slated to be one of the most intriguing contests in the longest format of the game in recent times. India’s potential qualification to the Final of the World Test Championship was at stake and the Poms were supposed to put up a staunch fight after a stunning show in Sri Lanka.
However, rather unfortunately, much of the talk around the series was around the pitches on offer and how allegedly it has been detrimental for the fate of the visiting team.
Experts from around the world, especially England, have weighed in and targeted the Indian team for not presenting neutral pitch conditions. Players have been repeatedly asked the same questions in media briefings, and somehow, the seamlessness with which India has made its way back into the series after a terrible loss upfront is forgotten conveniently.
However, all it highlights is the sheer hypocrisy of international teams whenever they visit India for a long-drawn Test tour. Somehow, the Indian board always has to abide by the rousing expectations of wiping off their own team’s strengths to create pitches that allow the opposition team an equal chance to emerge victorious too.
Well, very clearly, none of the other Test teams follow this path and neither should they be compelled to do so.
The home-away format is prevalent well and truly in world cricket because it puts forth challenging scenarios that teams have to tackle. The sheer hype and importance given to foreign tours is merely due to the fact that sides are expected to perform well in alien conditions. It is the true test of their skillset; in one of the most challenging formats of the sport itself.
Everyone is touted to do well in their own, homely conditions where they are familiar with the tracks, having scores of players to rise up to the occasion. However, there are only a select few individuals who manage to replicate and live up to those lofty standards even when encountered with difficult situations that they are not accustomed to.
Moreover, the Indian team is by default to get used to testing circumstances especially in SENA countries as soon as they land in the country for their respective tours. The performances of Indian batsmen are put through a stringent scanner straightaway, irrespective of the amount of practice that they avail ahead of the series. Both the domestic and international media does not think twice before going hard on the Indian players, regardless of their experience on those circumstances.
Everything, right from the IPL, the pay cheques that these players command, the state of Indian domestic circuit, nature of Indian pitches is criticized for a one-off poor performance. The Indian team is accused to be dependent on only one batsman in those times. All in all, the Indian team goes through hell every time they tour overseas.
And by hell, I don’t try to imply that they have to deal with difficult pitches and mould their style of play in that fashion. It is more about the fact that they are hardly provided any cushion of doubt or comfort, expected to be on the money right from the word go.
Very few ‘experts’ from back home tend to be sympathetic towards them either, unlike the benefit that the English side is currently relishing.
All we want to make a point for is that working around circumstances that are a bit uncertain, challenging and difficult is what Test cricket truly means. It is a test of one’s skills, talent, class, composure, character, temperament, patience and the ability to adapt the quickest. To beat the best in their own game is what consists of the highest accolade in the whites.
Moreover, every country and national team is entitled to develop pitches conducive to them in every series. The Ajinkya Rahane-led Indian team were not welcomed with a favourable Gabba track as they headed into the deciding Test of the recently concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Yet, with multiple debutants and newbies, the team showed enough courage, skillset and accommodativeness to complete a majestic victory at a ground where the Aussies were unbeaten for 32 years prior to this match. In fact, India’s historic recent Test victories like Colombo in August 2015, Johannesburg in January 2018, Nottingham in August 2018 and the recent two victories in the tour Down Under hardly came in convenient conditions.
However, the focus of the Indian team has always been towards enhancing their own performances in challenging circumstances, which forms the hallmark of a champion team. Tackling adverse spinning situations falls in the same bracket as getting quickly accustomed to vicious swing and bounce that the SENA countries have to offer. India were whitewashed in the tour to New Zealand in early 2020 and the blame was wholly put and rightly so on the inability of Indian batsmen to adjust to the extremely challenging pitches on offer.
Players like Steven Smith, Joe Root (to an extent), AB de Villiers and a few others have shown what it takes to succeed in the whites in India.
The nature of the pitches shouldn’t be the focal point of debates when others visit India, just like it is never up for discussion when an Indian side tours overseas. Playing conditions should be level for all, which means, all teams should have the advantage of developing pitches that suit their style of play. The other sides should be tasked to take their game several notches up and optimize their skills to deem the opposition’s benefits null and void.
If all pitches are neutral, then what will terms like ‘home advantage’ and ‘away record’ even mean? The focus should be on dealing and succeeding on different kind of pitches in separate countries, which sustains and furthers the variety of challenges that the sport of cricket has to offer.
Written by Tarkesh Jha. Follow Tarkesh on Twitter today.
