After the COVID pandemic, India have changed their pitches at home. Historically, surfaces were conducive to batting for the first three days, and due to the natural deterioration of the pitch, spinners and pacers would come into the game on the last two days.
Shift in the nature of pitches in India
Rank turners became the modus operandi for Virat Kohli-Ravi Shastri and then for Rohit Sharma-Rahul Dravid. Matches wouldn’t even last 3 days now. Ravichandran Ashwin would often take the ball within the first 10 overs. Scores of 100-150 became a common occurrence, even for India.
The shift from balanced to spin-friendly pitches probably came about due to the World Test Championship (WTC). Each match was important now, home or away. And that’s why the team juiced up their pitches at home, to ensure confirmed wins and points. India did so as well, but it had a lasting effect.
Batters’ confidence was shot. Scoring a fifty was often enough; even a tough 30 got the job done. Batters always had it tough away from home, and now batting in India wasn’t easy either. Plus, the opposition often got the better of India, not because of their quality but because of the pitches.
What Gill & Gambhir want
Starting a new chapter, India Test captain Shubman Gill has confirmed that he and head coach Gautam Gambhir have decided to revert to the ‘golden old days’ of balanced pitches. Gill, who’ll lead in his first home series, confirmed so on the eve of the India vs West Indies 1st Test.
“I can’t really speak about what were the conversations before I came (in as captain), but yes, we would be looking to play on wickets that offer (help) to both the batsmen and to the bowlers. But having said that, I think any challenge for any team that comes to India, they know that the challenge is going to be spin and reverse swing. So keeping these challenges in mind, we would be looking to play on wickets that offer both to the batsmen and to the bowlers,” Gill told reporters in Ahmedabad.
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