Australia’s win in the Indore Test removed my hesitation to write about Indian pitches, for fear of being accused of sour grapes.
The Indore pitch was similar to a few earlier Indian dustbowls, and the first two Test strips weren’t a whole lot better. I wondered just how often this has happened and what has changed over time, when recently watching highlights of Australia’s victorious 2004 series in India, with two or three pitches having a decent amount of grass on them.
So I cranked up the abacus and looked at the record on Indian pitches over the last ten years, compared to the decade of the 2000’s. These two periods are of equal length with a similar number of Tests played in each.
I examined all Tests played in India involving top eight teams, excluding minnows like Bangladesh, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan. I compared this with overall scoring and wicket-taking trends outside India among the top eight countries; Australia, England, India, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies.
A few figures stand out that do point to a long-term decline in the quality and durability of Indian pitches.
The Australians train at Delhi two pitches away from the centre-wicket Test strip. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
The average number of overs per Test in India dropped from 362 in the 2000’s to 297 since 2013. Since 2020, that figure has declined further to just 263 overs per Test, 27 per cent less than in the 2000’s.
38 per cent of all games in India in the 2000’s went the full five days, ending in draws, compared to 13 per cent since 2013 and just nine per cent since 2020 (one in eleven matches).
Average runs per wicket has likewise fallen from 37.2 in 2000-2009, to 29.8 since 2013, and to only 23.8 since 2020 – a 36 per cent long term decrease.
This is in line with figures you may have seen on the Fox Sports broadcast, showing that series’ combined batting averages in Border-Gavaskar Tests have declined steadily from 41.6 in 2008 to 21.1 in the first three Tests of the current series.
However, to get the full measure of these trends we need to ask whether other factors were in play. Does the changing balance between bat and ball in India reflect wider shifts in cricket around the globe? Possible culprits might include the avalanche of T20 cricket since the 2000’s affecting Test batting skills, as well as shorter Test tours with fewer warmup games.
Maybe there has been a general decline in curatorial skills? Or more wickets that are deliberately over-helpful to home teams?
In fact, the length of matches and average runs per wicket in the other major Test nations haven’t dropped as markedly as in India, so such factors haven’t had a big impact.
Overs per match only fell from 328 in the 2000’s to 314 since 2013, and 306 since 2020, a seven per cent decrease.
The decline in overall runs per wicket outside India is also modest – from 32.6 in the 2000’s to 30.1 since 2013, and 29.9 since 2020.
However, India’s bowling figures suggest that the quality of its attacks in the last decade may also have made a difference to the changing balance between bat and ball in India.
Away from home, India’s combined bowling average was 39 in the 2000’s compared to 30.1 since 2013. That points to an overall improvement in Indian bowling, not just the effect of tougher pitches.
Another sign of the times is that, while overseas pace bowlers have struggled recently and spinners like Nathan Lyon have done best, in the 2000’s, the best averages belonged to overseas pace bowlers, such as Glenn McGrath (20 wickets), Jason Gillespie (22), Matthew Hoggard (23), Makhaya Ntini (28) and Andrew Flintoff (30).
All this paints a mixed picture – evidence of pitches not lasting as long and being more favourable to the home team, but also of the Indians enhancing their all-round strength and performance. But while there may not have been an unending stream of raging turners, a check of innings totals shows teams getting out more often for really low scores.
The median score for completed or near completed innings (seven wickets down or more) in India since 2013 is 234, down from 312 in the 2000’s.
A team has been bundled out for under 100 in four per cent of such innings, compared to less than two per cent in the 2000’s. The proportion of totals under 150 has jumped from four to 17 per cent.
Marnus Labuschagne of Australia is bowled by Ravindra Jadeja of India. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
There are, of course, competing views about what constitutes fair pitch conditions. But many agree it’s best to aim for a pitch that can last the best part of five days without disintegrating severely and too quickly, and one that offers a decent contest between bat and ball.
One way to achieve this is to do the opposite of what happens too often in India – removing a lot of grass near a good or full length. The line that all is fair in love and cricket and it’s quite okay for countries to make “home conditions”, is bulldust.
There’s a difference between having pitches that are naturally quick or have a bit of seam and shaving the grass off to make raging turners.
Indian Premier League and 50-over ODI matches in India illustrate that it’s possible to keep grass on pitches and make decent wickets. Average ODI scores and scoring rates in India have gone up since the 2000s, in contrast to Test scoring.
Average runs per wicket for all teams in ODIs in India rose from 34.3 in the 2000s to 36.6 over the last decade, while the scoring rate lifted from 5.4 to 5.8 runs per over (all higher than the global averages).
So far, the wicket in Ahmedabad also seems to show that good wickets can be prepared, though if it stays too flat, then no doubt the curator will cop criticism for swinging the balance too far the other way.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Thanks W. It was a pity perhaps they couldn’t have had the game at Dharamsala this series. A good chance for the Indian quicks to show their skills again. You’re right, winning away is the biggest test, and of course it’s been a big step for India to win 2 series in a row in Australia. Unfortunately, winning away doesn’t get as much attention from the public and media as winning at home in most countries.
whymuds
Roar Rookie
Great write up Dave, one of the best on a topic that gets way too much air time in Australia! As I was reading your piece and the comments I was itching to get my hands on stats that show our batters and bowlers doing better in the past decade than previously, which I reckon is a reason for the shorter games. No doubt pitches are getting tougher, but we are also smashing visiting teams more regularly. I watch a lot of Indian test cricket and it feels like there are so many games where we post good totals and the opposition don't get close. In saying this, I would love to see more variation in pitches in India. We have so many test grounds and different climates, we could replicate almost every other major ground on earth in our country and develop players that can play in all conditions. But for this to work, we need to stop our obsession with home dominance and prioritise winning overseas... even if that means losing more games at home.
The Late News
Roar Rookie
Thanks. Interesting read. A bit to digest.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Data like this makes it extremely difficult to pick all-time XIs fairly ! I'll just have to stick with the "a champion in one era would be a champion in any other era" theory.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Interesting. I think yes, your last sentence sums it up well and is on the money. :thumbup:
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
That’s a fair point about T20 vs Tests, but as I said, there’s no evidence that spreading the Test venues more widely in India has led to a decline in quality. In fact, it’s the opposite - traditional pitches are worse than the rookies. The point about Indian ODI pitches showing even better scoring over the last decade is that it’s not that difficult to prepare evenly grassed pitches if they want to.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Thanks DaveJ, Although a genuine Test venue should have much better facilities than those for a T20 game, that don't get reflected in batting averages. The best drainage and covers, and practice pitches that are off-field, and facilities that attendees need if there for 6-8 hours- shade, toilets, food outlets etc. Things that you can do without for 3 hours, but not for 5 days. A North Sydney or Sydney Showground might have the best outfield and square in the country, but it won't meet CA's broader criteria to host a Test.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Jeff, excellent point. Comparisons of Indian batting over the two decades are interesting. You are right that the Indian lineup of the 2000s had more big scorers than the last and their record away from home attests to their superiority – a team average of 32.2 vs 28.9 away from home. The quality of the top 6 is accentuated by the fact that the Indian lower order 7-12 has performed a bit better on average away over the last decade (18.8 vs 17.2) with the likes of Pant, Jadeja and Ashwin. But what’s really revealing is that Indian batters overall have actually averaged a bit better in India in the last ten years (38.5) than in the 2000s, contrary to the overall trend. So the dramatic drop in overall averages in India is solely due to lower scores by visiting batsmen- dropping from 32.4 to 21.6 (probably worse since 2020). This adds to the picture of Indian wickets getting much more spin friendly, but also weaker overseas batting against spin (due to less preparation, less FC cricket in general? Could much better Indian spinners be a factor? Maybe a bit – Ashwin and Jadeja average about 4 runs better than Kumble and Harbhajan away from home, slightly more than the drop of 3 runs in global bowling averages outside India over the two decades. The really big drops in Indian bowling averages away from home have come from the pacemen (Ishant, Kumar, Bumrah, Shami) and they’ve also done a lot betting than their predecessors in India. But they don’t bowl a lot of overs there or take a lot of wickets compared to the spinners. So it’s a mixed picture- definitely a lot more spin friendly wickets, but part of the decline in runs per wicket and shorter matches is poorer visiting batting and stronger Indian bowling.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Good point, AD, though in fact I looked into those numbers and spreading to new venues doesn’t seem to be the problem, as noted in my response to Arnab below.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Putting this comment in as a response to Arnab’s point below, as the system won’t let me make a response directly: Excellent question you raise, Arnab. But in fact I did look into this in case there was a pattern, as you can find average per wicket for specific grounds over different time periods on Cricinfo. I didn’t include it in the article for reasons of space as the numbers didn’t show a trend like the one you suggest. Perhaps I should have. Most of the worst “culprits” in terms of declining pitch quality were traditional main Test grounds that have hosted Test matches for decades: Delhi, Kolkata, Bengalaru, Ahmedabad, as well as Nagpur, Kanpur and Mohali. Even if you don’t count the last three as rich big or wealthy associations, runs per wicket on all 7 of these grounds were lower in the last decade than in the 80s and 90s, when Indian associations weren’t as wealthy as today and when global scoring rates were about 3 runs lower than in the 2000s, thanks partly to bigger bats and smaller boundaries. Only Chennai and Mumbai (Wankhede) went the other way, with higher run rates over the last decade, though Mumbai relapsed with a lower scoring game in 2021, when NZ were all out for 62 in the FIRST innings. And most of the newer grounds introduced in the last decade have had better runs per wicket stats than the Indian average, e.g. Ranchi (38), Rajkot (43) and Visakhapatnam (35). Pune and Indore have been around the average, although Indore’s average suffered dramatically from the 17.6 runs per wicket achieved in the last Test. So I don’t think the theory that declining pitch quality is the result of Indian Tests being spread to new venues holds up.
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Jeff I’ll try to answer at the moment I can’t seem to reply to comments - this is a Test :)
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Excellent question you raise, Arnab. But in fact I did look into this in case there was a pattern, as you can find average per wicket for specific grounds over different time periods on Cricinfo. I didn’t include it in the article for reasons of space as the numbers didn’t show a trend like the one you suggest. Perhaps I should have. Most of the worst “culprits” in terms of declining pitch quality were traditional main Test grounds that have hosted Test matches for decades: Delhi, Kolkata, Bengalaru, Ahmedabad, as well as Nagpur, Kanpur and Mohali. Even if you don’t count the last three as rich big or wealthy associations, runs per wicket on all 7 of these grounds were lower in the last decade than in the 80s and 90s, when Indian associations weren’t as wealthy as today and when global scoring rates were about 3 runs lower than in the 2000s, thanks partly to bigger bats and smaller boundaries. Only Chennai and Mumbai (Wankhede) went the other way, with higher run rates over the last decade, though Mumbai relapsed with a lower scoring game in 2021, when NZ were all out for 62 in the FIRST innings. And most of the newer grounds introduced in the last decade have had better runs per wicket stats than the Indian average, e.g. Ranchi (38), Rajkot (43) and Visakhapatnam (35). Pune and Indore have been around the average, although Indore’s average suffered dramatically from the 17.6 runs per wicket achieved in the last Test. So I don’t think the theory that declining pitch quality is the result of Indian Tests being spread to new venues holds up.
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Good article Dave. Allows for contemplation as to the reasons why matches are shorter and totals are lower and I'm not clear on the answer. I think you're on the money with India having a stronger attack in the last decade than in the 2000s which may be leading to touring teams being dismissed earlier. But I also feel India's batting was stronger in the 2000s than the last decade, even though India has been winning more in the last decade - were the Indian batsmen of the 2000s stretching out the length of the match by batting longer?. I don't have the stats, but I reckon the India lineups including Gambhir, Sehwag, Dravid, Tendulkar, Ganguly, Laxman were more prolific than the line ups of the past decade (I think those mentioned from the 2000s all averaged 50+ in Tests other than Ganguly). I'd be interested to know the away Test averages of those Indian line ups from both eras. If both sets of away records are comparable proportionally to their respective home records, then that's probably a good baseline for assessment of India pitch performances over the two eras.
Redcap
Roar Guru
I think it was Gavaskar on the radio who mentioned that India has something like 17 test venues which seem to be used in a rotation, with administrators seemingly unwilling to risk upsetting somebody by going outside the rotation. Kohli might have another couple of years left in his test career, but it seems likely he's played his last test in Dehli.
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Out of the ordinary. What next, for a home Australian series in which it has the only paceman over 6'6" in height, seeing a patch on their unique natural length that's rock-hard and over-grassed, or even concreted with synthetic grass on top ? Or when it has the only wrist-spinners, preparing a patch outside leg-stump by using no water, a blow-torch, and wire-brushes rather than mowers ?
All day Roseville all day
Roar Guru
Great points, Arnab. Acknowledging that every country's board has its own responses to its own unique issues. India could concentrate its Tests at just 5-10 venues and then make them the world's best in terms of the on-field standards and off-field facilities expected for 5-day games- hosting tour games, having the best curators, drainage, covers, lights, practice pitches, corporate boxes, locally-based multinational sponsors, airports, hotels etc. But spread the hundreds of IPL games, ODIs and T20Is annually across 30-40 venues where lesser standards can be tolerated for a day or half-day, and the game is accessible to as many spectators as possible. It's weird from an Australian perspective that an Indian ground can host a Test having not hosted one, and in some cases not hosted a Duleep or Ranji Trophy game either, for many months and in some cases even years. In contrast NZ seems to use its big cities with drop-in pitches at stadiums shared with rugby, for its more-lucrative white-ball games. While often sending its Test matches to Hamilton, Napier, Mt Maunganui, University of Dunedin etc.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Great piece, thanks Dave.
Tony Tea
Roar Rookie
The first sign of a doctored pitch is whether it is has recently been changed from its normal state; for instance, a pitch which has been a road, but which is suddenly a minefield, has been doctored. In 2009, The Oval had been a batting paradise in the County Champs, but suddenly for the Fifth Test it suited Swann to a tee. On the flip side, I would reject any accusation that Australian pitches are doctored, because each state has its own characteristic pitch (even though they lean to roads – I would prefer they lean to minefields) and their characters rarely change. Some people accused Australia of doctoring the Gabba pitch last year, but it was merely underprepared because of the weather. And anyway, Channels Nine and Seven demand five-day pitches. I actually don’t mind that the Indian pitches are spin-friendly, but I do kick up at shenanigans like the selective watering last month. Mind you, India seems to be getting more fast bowlers, so it would be interesting to see what would happen to their pitches if they relied more on pace than spin.
Dutski
Roar Guru
I’ll admit I know nothing about pitch preparation, but I had always assumed that the whole pitch was cut to one level. The previous test where it was obvious that some sections were cut shorter than others was an eye opener for me. Is this normal practice or was this something out of the ordinary?
Arnab Bhattacharya
Roar Guru
A big reason that wasn't mentioned (and not your fault) is that India are playing a lot of home Tests at the non major cities across the nation. Kohli's been a big advocate for India to have 5-6 Test venues only - Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Ahmedabad. The reason for that is that the state boards there are rich enough to hire curators who make good pitches. Why Nagpur and Indore got a Test over Mumbai and Chennai/Bengaluru this series I won't know. But these pitch talks will continue for as long as possible while India play Test matches in cities where the state boards infrastructure is poor. Leave playing the white ball games in smaller cities, while the bigger cities host Test matches.