WITH added arsenal of captain Rohit Sharma’s stinging remarks on the mechanism of rating pitches and also the caustic take by former skipper Sunil Gavaskar, the Indians are ready to give it back to the always-complaining ‘foreign’ teams in the upcoming Test series at home. Rohit was blunt in the criticism of the International Cricket Council (ICC) as he questioned the double standards adopted by match referees in rating pitches on which matches end in quick time. The bias is clearly reflected in the rating of spinning tracks as poor while the seaming ones with cracks are mostly let off as “part of the game”. This will be the hot topic of discussion in the cricketing space over the next few weeks as England are due to tour India for a long Test series. Even as the pitches raise the temperature for the visiting Englishmen, the Indians cannot remain slack about their tour to South Africa where they wasted a golden opportunity to finally win a Test series. The 1-1 verdict in the short series shows that the Indians were up to the challenge but yet again fluffed the lines at the crucial moment.

 

There are a bagful of lessons to be put on the discussion table for Rohit and coach Rahul Dravid before they embark on the series against England in home conditions. There is an urgent necessity to address the issues that cropped up in both bowling and batting departments in South Africa before they make an ugly appearance someday even at home. The two-Test series in South Africa proved that the skills required to stay on the crease by weathering the early storm are waning. Both the teams were guilty of not putting up a gutsy show as the second Test in Cape Town ended in merely 642 deliveries. It was a sad commentary on the batting prowess of the modern-day players whose penchant for stroke-making can be understood but their aversion to use defence as a weapon is concerning. The two game showed that the art of batting on seaming wickets was not totally lost when Virat Kohli, Dean Elgar, Lokesh Rahul and Aiden Markram stood ground against hostile bowling with good mix of attack and defence.

 

The worrying factor was the inability of the newcomers to adapt to the situation. Not that they were not exposed to the South African conditions. The Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) had been arranging ‘A’ tours and Emerging Team tours to SENA countries for long and many in the current senior Indian team had been part of such tours some or the other time. Yet, there was a palpable deficiency in their technique and also temperament in playing on seaming surfaces. Though the home conditions and pitches are totally different, the mental blocks can still cast direct effect on the batting style. Even otherwise, visiting spinners have had a good record against the traditionally spin-fed home batsmen in the past many series. Shoring up batting of the youngsters is imperative for remaining a force to reckon with.