A lot has been said and written about the pitch on which India defeated South Africa inside three days at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali last week.
Parched and tired, ugly (aesthetically, that is) and dusty — many an adjective has been used to describe the surface used for the first Test which India won by 108 runs.
With the bandwagon having moved into rainy Bengaluru, it remains to be seen if P.R. Viswanathan, chief curator of South Zone, manages to oblige the Indian team by preparing another spinner-friendly strip for the second Test starting on Saturday.
That said, India — more specifically team director Ravi Shastri and skipper Virat Kohli — has found support from an unexpected corner. Jeff Thomson, the fastest bowler of his time (perhaps of all time), has thrown his weight behind the host team.
“How does it matter? Don’t they all have to play on the same wicket,” the 65-year-old Thomson told The Hindu in an exclusive chat on Tuesday. The legendary Australian is here as head coach of the Mumbai Cricket Association-IDBI Federal Life Insurance Bowling Foundation.
Exposed wicket“It doesn’t matter if the home team prepares a spinner-friendly wicket. Actually, in my opinion, they should not cover the wickets anymore. That’s if you want to liven up things a little. Let the weather play its part.
Look, most games (Test matches) don’t end up as draws these days. That’s because the game is much quicker. But just because the games get over quicker (these days), you can’t do anything. A quicker, better game is better than a long, boring draw,” isn’t it,” said Thomson, who picked up 200 wickets in 51 Tests at an average of 28.
Thomson, whose slinging action and ultra-aggressive attitude, made him the darling of the masses, explained how he improved as a bowler by playing on “all kinds of wickets” back home.
“We had to play on all surfaces. When I was a young bloke, every wicket in Australia was different. That made the Sheffield Shield an interesting competition. Brisbane was not a bad place for fast bowlers; Perth was quick; Sydney was for the batters; Melbourne was alright; Adelaide was about spin. Nowadays, they are making mistakes by preparing flat wickets all over (the world). That’s not going to do any good to anybody.
Learn to play spin“As long as the pitch is not too crazy, I think it’s fine (if it aids turn). I don’t see any problem. Like I said, both teams have to play on the same pitch. So the quicker you learn to play spin bowling, the better of you are. The thing is that many batsmen don’t know how to play spin bowling. South Africa have never been good players of spin bowling.”
So, does he expect the Proteas to fight back? “Yeah, I think so. They have (AB) de Villiers, (Hashim) Amla, and Faf (du Plessis) on board. Of course, it’s possible. Look, if the pitch turns, then it will obviously favour India more. But I also think that the toss will be crucial. Win the toss, and you have got a better chance to win the match. In the end, it will come down to the batting technique. If the South Africans can bat as well as the Indians, then where’s the problem?” Thomson said.
His parting shot was the best. “If you play on a fast-bowling wicket, people whinge; if you play on a spinner-friendly wicket, they whinge again. You know these batsmen they always whinge about something.”
