IND vs ENG: I’ve got no issue with how India want to play at home, as long as pitches are up to standards: Simon Doull

The fact that India is not generating competitive pitches at home has caused a huge commotion among cricket enthusiasts.

The first round of the five-match series between India and England will take place at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, January 25. The cricket community has been inconsolable at India’s inability to provide competitive surfaces at home, therefore all eyes will be on the pitches that have been constructed for the series when the two titans of Test cricket square off.

Simon Doull, a former cricket player for New Zealand, recently voiced his thoughts on the matter and contrasted the pitches that are created in India and New Zealand. He said that he doesn’t mind if Indian pitches are criticised because they aren’t underprepared in the slightest.

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“I don’t think it is fair at all (criticism of Indian pitches). In New Zealand, there is 15-18mm of grass on every Test pitch. It would seam around for a day and a half; that is how New Zealand win at home. I’ve got no issue with how India want to play at home, as long as the pitches are up to the standards. I don’t care if it turns from Day 1 as long as the pitch is not underprepared, rough, or looks ordinary on the opening day,” Doull was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.

“The only thing I would say is how do these modern Indian batters, The Shubman Gills and the (Yashasvi) Jaiswals, get Test match double hundreds? You look at the careers of the previous Indian batters and the careers of these new Indian players, and you’d feel, ‘We don’t expect them to average 55, 54, 53, like the Tendulkars, the Dravids, the Sehwags, and the Laxmans’. That’s because they are playing on surfaces that are more spin-friendly on Day 1,” says Doull.

In addition, Doull projected that England’s “Bazball” tactic in India would be ineffective over the course of five Test matches.

“I don’t like the term. But the way they play, I enjoy. They will not change the way they play, and neither should they. It has been attractive; it has been a resurgence of Test cricket. I don’t think they will stop the way they play. Will it work? It might in a Test or two. I don’t think it will work over a five-Test series. (It’s not) good enough to beat an Indian side. I think we are in for a cracking Test series, and it will be entertaining no matter how it goes, but I don’t think they will be able to sustain it over a five-Test series,” he added.

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