There are many reasons why England is about to lose the second Test to India in Chennai and the pitch is not one of them.
As the tourists were bundled out for just 134 in the first innings, a chorus of voices piped up crying injustice.
“Not good enough for Test cricket,” the BBC’s Jonathan Agnew said of the Chennai pitch.
“Very poor” is how Michael Vaughan described it.
Ravichandran Ashwin made a mockery of those calls on Monday night, the number eight striking a second innings 106 that hammered home India’s advantage.
In total, India made over 600 runs on what Agnew called a “beach”.
Quite obviously, those calls were proved very wrong.
But they also exposed striking double-standards when it comes to different conditions around the world.
A green surface that favours the seamers? Fine.
A dry surface that favours the spinners? Bad for the game.
As one Twitter user said, “It’s as if seam movement is a higher, nobler form of deception than turn”.
In 2018, a Lord’s green-top saw India trounced inside two full days of cricket.
In the aftermath, India’s deficiencies against lateral movement were (rightly) picked apart, not the state of the surface.
Yet as England’s inadequacy against spin was exposed in Chennai, analysis shifted blame away from the players and onto the so-called diabolical state of the wicket.
Perhaps surprisingly, it took Shane Warne to deliver some balance to the discussion, arguing the first Test pitch (where England had won convincingly) had in fact offered more assistance to the tourists than what the second Test pitch has to India.
“The last few days of the first test, the wicket started exploding and no one said a word about the pitch when India had no chance,” Warne Tweeted.
“At least this Test it’s been the same for both teams from ball one. Eng bowled poorly and Rohit, Pant and Jinx showed how to bat.”
Warne is right.
The pitch has been difficult from the get-go, and there are many rational reasons India have dominated.
They batted with far more conviction, for starters.
On dangerous surfaces, merely surviving (as England tried in their first innings) is fateful.
In compiling 134 in 60 overs, they went at just 2.2 runs an over.
India by contrast have ticked along at 3.4 throughout the Test.
Second, India’s spinners are far more accurate than England’s.
And finally, India are a dominant force at home who expertly play to their conditions.
(Photo by Patrick Hamilton/AFP via Getty Images)
Last week’s loss, just like the 2017 defeat to Australia in Pune, are anomalies.
The next gripe in Chennai was a broader one; that if you lose the toss in India, such is the benefit of batting first, the game is all but over.
This is also a complete fallacy.
Since 2000, away teams in India batting first after winning the toss have won just six Tests.
India, batting last, have won 31.
While English fans were the ones moaning this week, Australians are far from innocent on this very subject.
How many times have we moaned about a rank turner being unfit for Test cricket, or even ‘doctored’ for the home side?
How many times have the Aussies been bowled out for 120, only for India to cruise to 1-120, rendering the argument redundant?
“Once again, the unplayable pitch starts looking kinda playable once the players who can play on it start playing on it,” Geoff Lemon said in India’s second innings.
Pitches that favour the home side are unfairly targeted on the subcontinent, when in reality it happens in England, South Africa, New Zealand and (to a lesser extent in the drop-in age) Australia too.
It should be noted that the England team themselves have not complained about the pitch.
In fact while dealt a poor hand with third umpire throughout the first innings, they admirably kept their mouths shut.
Whichever way you dice it, turning wickets provide compelling cricket.
Runs hold more value, batting skills are amplified, and fields are more aggressive.
Each ball is a contest.
While we don’t want Test matches over inside three days, it remains a preferable outcome than a batting-friendly road, which can suck the life out of all involved.
There’s a reason why so many experts, former players and fans have expressed an opinion on the current Chennai surface: because they’re all watching, glued to what’s turning into another compelling series.
Antony Horan
Guest
I read your piece again after the capitulation of England overnight and reading the complaints by the English past players. It's funny that they never complain when England wins a test in England on a green top that allows Anderson and Co to run wild in the same manner the Indian spinners did. So what if the pitch turns in India - we have always known that. Just like we know that in England and NZ it is going to suit their seamers and swing bowlers. The problem is no other team has as many top-line spinners as the Indians do. England/NZ have it with swing bowlers, so what is the difference? Maybe more batters should take the Matthew Hayden approach and go and train in India for a while in the lead-up, or their off-season to improve their playing of spin. Maybe we should send some of our spinners over there as well to learn how to bowl on a turner and to bowl to batters who are very good at playing spin as well. Kudos to India, their home series and therefore can prepare their pitches the way they want. The only issue should be if it is falling apart.
Omkar upadhyay
Guest
Well 2001 series against AUS or anyother against quality always witnesses quantity....hope you got this btw don't take COVID-19 out of equations...
Ozzie Bob
Roar Rookie
The only other nation I can think of is New Zealand. Eden Park in Auckland and The Cake Tin in Wellington both have drop in pitches for cricket. However the Cake Tin is only used for ODI's and T20's with the Basin Reserve the test ground in Wellington. I remember Lancaster Park which was badly damaged by the earthquake in Christchurch may have had a drop in pitch. NZ's grounds are mainly set up for rugby and they have smaller grounds for their test cricket which are cricket dedicated grounds unlike Australia's grounds which are also AFL grounds in winter. The English are also lucky to have dedicated cricket grounds as with the English winter if they were used for football or league/Union the surface would be destroyed without undersoil heating.
Simoc
Guest
Now thats a point. Kookaburra have better salespeople than Dukes and hence is the dominant ball. But the Dukes ball moves around here as well and if chosen over the Kooaburra around the world, batsman the world over would improve their techniques out of necessity. You can tell when its being used in Shield cricket here as the scores are about a third or more less. Personally I like seeing the ball move. The batters can react if their mindset allows. Note how often tailenders score runs on supposedly bad pitches when the top order has fallen over. There's no pressure so they wack it. Simple.
Simoc
Guest
Absolutely Gary but don't hold your breath. The current CA mob appear to be copying the hopelessly incompetent and disastrous previous bunch of Brylcreem boys selected for how closely they knew those recruiting. Hopeless or no leadership and they're not alone. The AFL and our PM are also wannabes, delivering zero leadership because they have no leadership ability.
Simoc
Guest
Well Pedro if you were a blade of grass trying to survive on that pitch after being tortured for 5 days you may also turn orange. Check out the just used pitch in a couple of weeks time for reference.
nics
Roar Rookie
Well people are welcome to have their own feelings, but can't they have their own facts?
Rowdy
Roar Rookie
You've compared a top fast bowler to a well below average spinner. I might point out that the fastest to 200 wickets have been 2 spinners. There must be something compelling about them. Also the total wickets taken have been by 2 spinners. ----- Fast bowlers beat batsmen around the ears Spinners beat batsmen between the ears
P. tear Griffin
Guest
I haven't missed your point at all. Answer this: Did you complain when Australia picked an all pace attack against India in Perth in 2012? Did you say the pitch was not conducive to good and fair cricket? I didn't think so. I'll bet you loved it. I'll bet you loved watching an all pace attack. Indeed, would you say now that that Perth pitch was not conducive to good and fair cricket? The double standard in your post was incredible. There are some fast bowler friendly wickets, and some spin friendly wickets. It seems people only have an issue with spin friendly wickets.
Burz
Roar Rookie
Ashwin’s hundred has rightfully silenced all the critics who were making a big hue and cry about the nature of the Chennai pitch. Ashwin, just wanted to tell the world what is all this fuss around the pitch? If he could score that ton with the help of tail-enders, the English batsmen could certainly do better given they were 1-0 up in this series. …furthermore , an English Player who came in at no 8 – Moen scored an 18 ball 44 and was well and truly on track to score the fastest 50 in test cricket (record is 21 ball) . Honestly I wish he had done that, it would have been a perfect icing on the cake for all the nah sayers of the pitch .
Naughty's Headband
Roar Rookie
You were a big fan of cricket in the 20's were you?
matth
Roar Guru
I think that's fine. You equally won't expect the spinners to do much when Broad and Anderson are tearing it up across England.
matth
Roar Guru
That's what happened in Pune the last time Australia toured. India prepared a raging turner and then Stephen O'Keefe shot them out.
matth
Roar Guru
I just knew as soon as Tim P made that comment that we were going to lose at the Gabba.
matth
Roar Guru
True, but the English should be last ones to complain. They are happy to prepare greentops for when India visit, but when Swan was at his best and we were between Warne and Lyon, suddenly they were dishing up try turning pitches.
matth
Roar Guru
” I understand that to a degree” … or not at all. You say you understand but then say that too many spinners is boring and that Indian fans are the first to agree – I’m waiting on your polling results on that one. Using poor crowds as an example is ridiculous. Guess where the poorest crowds are in Australia? The pace heavy Gabba. Guess who the most successful bowlers are in the IPL? Spinners, that’s who.
matth
Roar Guru
You are saying “this is what I like, so obviously the rest of the world does too, otherwise they are just wrong”. And guess who the most successful bowlers are in T20. Rashid Khan says hi.
matth
Roar Guru
So now they have Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Yadav, Sharma, etc why aren't we suddenly seeing pitches over there supporting fast bowlers? Because cricket is not just a game of chuck it as fast as possible. There is subtlety, variety and complexity to this game that has obviously passed you by. For every Johnson there is a Warne, for every Imran there is a Qadir.
matth
Roar Guru
Garbage - Abdul Qadir, Stuart MacGill, Clarrie Grimmett, Hedley Verity, Chuck Fleetwood-Smith, Saqlain Mushtaq, Mushtaq Mohammed, etc, etc.
matth
Roar Guru
And lore and legend tends to follow the spinners as much as the fast bowlers - Warne, Benaud, O'Reilly, Grimmett, the GOAT. Even the descriptions are more romantic - doosra, wrong-un, bosie, the flipper, the arm ball, topsinner, chinaman, etc