A pitch for faster wickets in the domestic game

For long, onlookers have been inured to the sight of Indian wickets offering scant assistance to fast bowling. Apart from being demotivating for the quicks, the inadequacy of domestic pitches to prepare batsmen for the pace barrage when they travel abroad has been documented. It is a given that Test match wickets in India will be made to suit our perceived strength in the spin department. But could not, at the very least, the wickets laid out for domestic cricket be made a shade livelier than what we are accustomed to?

K Parthasarathy, curator of the Chepauk wicket for more than 25 years may be counted upon to provide some answers. For Parthasarathy, it is a family business; his father KS Kannan, former Tamil Nadu and South Zone player, preceded him in the job. Chepauk produced two of the fastest Test wickets in India in the late seventies. Wisden called the pitch against England in 1976-77, 'the fastest produced in many years on an Indian Test ground'. India lost but two years later when the West Indies toured here, the wicket was, again in the words of Wisden 'fast and most generous in the matter of bounce', and the home team turned the tables on their opponents.

Parthasarathy indicates that the experiment did not last because of the insistence of the Indian team management to produce slow wickets. "Even for this match (the Under-19 game vs England) I wanted more grass but they told me to take it out." A champion fast medium bowler like Kapil Dev used to ask for a turning track as captain, he said. "I can't bowl from both ends" was Kapil's refrain. And Parthasarathy admits he was right since 'opponent teams would have four bowlers like him'.

`Pacha', as he is popularly known, agrees that the Indian team has no choice but to pursue the policy, even though the spin attack is defanged in Kumble's absence. He argues that on suitable wickets it is conceivable for even an unknown spinner to run through the opposition, citing the celebrated case of Narendra Hirwani. The wicket on which Hirwani wreaked destruction, he insists, was not underprepared but merely a square turner, subtle difference that. However, according to Parthasarathy, apart from that aberration, his wickets have had something to offer for both pace and spin.

The subject veered around to why domestic cricket could not do with faster pitches. While it may be difficult to change the centre wicket, especially if a Test match is scheduled for the season, it should at least be possible to modify the tracks on either side of the centre wicket for domestic cricket. But he says that for one thing, far more matches are held these days and the stadium being in use around the year makes repair or rework difficult. "Earlier there used to be just 30 days of cricket every year but these days we have more than 200 days of cricket".

He also notes that the frequent hosting of matches, which leads to the square being covered regularly, tends to affect the nature of the wicket. The grass roots have to be strong for the wicket to bind together, otherwise the soil gets loose, but covering prevents dew precipitating on the grass. Indeed, the introduction of covering further blunted the quicks, preventing them from extracting the customary assistance early in the day from the moisture in the wicket. "Earlier even on the fifth day, the first hour would be difficult for the batsmen with the ball seaming due to the dew. That is natural cricket", he wistfully remarks. An experiment with uncovered wickets in domestic cricket several years ago died an early death.

Parthasarathy suggests the climate is another factor. Captains buy the argument that fast bowlers lack the stamina in Indian conditions to dismiss teams twice, whereas spinners can wheel away for much longer without feeling the effects. Even in domestic cricket, local associations exert pressure against faster tracks, since their batsmen are more comfortable playing spin. 'Pacha' advocates that the Board should make it compulsory for domestic wickets to sport at least a quarter to half an inch of grass. Force may not be the most efficient option but it is heartening that associations like Punjab are breaking fresh ground at their own initiative. The Mohali green top is by all accounts the most encouraging for faster bowlers in the land, but nor has it precluded the thriving of spin bowling. Ultimately only the force of example will serve as the driving force for change.