IND vs AUS, 3rd Test, Indore: Poor Pitch? May Be Not India

Indore: Opting to bat first, India skipper Rohit Sharma might be thinking that it is possibly a good toss to win against Australia in the third Test played at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore. After all, in conditions that are expected to turn, as a captain, you are always tempted to bat first and not run the risk of batting in the fourth innings.

As things turned out on the first morning of the first session, it probably wasn’t such a good toss to win. India crumbled under pressure with the ball turning square as Australia left-arm spinner Matthew Kuhnemann made full use of the conditions, returning with figures of 5 for 16. The hosts were bowled out for 109 in 33.2 overs, giving Australia their best chance to somewhat get back in the series, having lost the first two convincingly against India.

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For obvious reasons, the pitch will be under the scanner for the next few days – let’s make that another day because it is very unlikely that the game will extend till the third day. First things first – there is absolutely no doubt about the fact that it is a poor pitch and an equally poor advertisement for Test cricket, even if it offers exciting viewing.

But the Indians should take the bulk of the blame. For sure, the pitch isn’t the best but the batting was probably worse than the surface itself. Rohit rode his luck in the first over of the Test match but failed to make use of it as Kuhnemann got the better of him. The India captain invited trouble by going down the wicket to a ball going away and was stumped by a country mile.

The shot would probably be a good option against the likes of Nathan Lyon or Todd Murphy – both off-spinners where the body can act as a second line of defence even if the batter misses the ball. Not so much against left-arm spin, where if you miss there is no getting back.

Shubman Gill looked a million dollars till the time he was at the crease before getting dismissed to another Kuhnemann delivery. One could argue that he could have done better, especially when the ball is spinning that much. It could well have been left alone. But that ship has sailed for now.

Cheteshwar Pujara possibly played the worst shot of the entire Indian innings. Trying to play through the off-side, on a rank turner to an off-spinner will always land you in trouble. So, it wasn’t surprising that he was cleaned up by Lyon. Ravindra Jadeja and Shreyas Iyer’s dismissal left a lot to be desired while Virat Kohli looked assured at the crease till the time he was there before getting trapped by a Murphy delivery.

The Indians have only themselves to blame and this is probably not the first time that they have been found wanting on a turning track. The lack of playing good quality spin on a challenging surface requires a lot of skill but even more than that, it requires the batter to be stubborn and patient along with a lot of mental toughness.

Like the great Sunil Gavaskar always said that playing spin is more difficult than good quality pace or seam. For spin, the batter will have to use the entire length of the crease, go right back when the need be to create space or take a big stride forward to smoother the spin. To add to that, the use of the feet as and when the need be always helps – which can also be a great attacking option and not just blindly sweep as the Australians found out in the first two Tests.

The pitch is challenging and might not be as bad as the Indians made it look like. After all, playing spin is also an art and Australia would do good to learn from the mistake that the Indians made.