The Mohali pitch for the India-South Africa Test has triggered a debate on whether it was worthy of five-day cricket.
Not often does the 22-yard strip come under such scrutiny. But what if you were Sunil Gavaskar, the paragon of correct batsmanship with 10122 runs and 34 centuries in 125 Tests?
Simple, he never bothered about the pitch. “I very seldom went to the pitch because I didn’t want to get prejudiced one way or the other,” says Gavaskar.
Would he advocate different type of pitches? “I think playing in different conditions, different pitches is the beauty of international cricket. It is a test of your skill as well as your temperament. So to have pitches which are similar all over the world doesn’t make sense.
“As long as India is winning the matches, there will be no cause for alarm. To be able to score on all kinds of surfaces is what you want as your recognition as a batsman.”
What would a batsman need on bowler-friendly pitches? “Loads of patience and footwork, the footwork just to be able to get to the pitch of the ball. Once you start getting to the pitch of the ball, the bowler tries to shorten his length and that shortening in length means you get the opportunity to either play the cut shot, back foot cut shot, or the pull shot as well. But it mustn’t be, ‘I am going to play that shot come what may’. That’s a sure recipe for disaster.”
How does he view the modern batting technique? “The batting technique has changed to the extent that because of so much of limited-over cricket, a lot of hard hands are seen even in Test cricket. A lot of jabbing and pushing is seen in Test cricket.
“What happens also with the weight of the bat is when it is heavy, you are trying to get some punch and power into your shots and therefore you are playing hard at the delivery. You play with the lighter bats, you can control your bat speed that much easier.”
How much of his epic 96 against Pakistan at Bangalore in 1987 does he remember? “To be honest I just recall basically two deliveries because my focus, my concentration was such. I was just focused on the next ball, so there was no time to think back on the previous ball.
“The first was a delivery from Tauseef Ahmed which pitched on the off-stump and jumped up from a short-of-a-good-length so quickly that it was like a bouncer. And the other was a shortish delivery from Iqbal Qasim who had bowled so well. He bowled a rare short delivery and I got so excited at an opportunity to score that I tried to hit it too hard and sent it straight to the fielder.”
Which was the real Sunil Gavaskar — the one who made a crafty 57 against England at Manchester in 1971, a magnificent 221 against England at The Oval in 1979, a classic 166 against Pakistan at Madras in 1980, a strokeful 121 against West Indies at Delhi in 1983 or the masterly 96 against Pakistan.
“Probably a combination of all these, but I guess the real Sunil Gavaskar would have been the one who would have liked to play like he played at Delhi.” Gavaskar played the hook and the cut and pulled compulsively at Delhi as he smashed 15 fours and two sixes in a breathtaking 128-ball charge.
