All eyes on the pitch

The Eden Gardens pitch was severely criticised during the second Test between India and Pakistan. Only 23 wickets fell on a slow and low track, yet the batsmen were unable to score with ease. However, if the pitch for the third Test at the Chinnaswamy Stadium plays according to how the curator, Narayan Raju, said it would, we can expect an extremely different Test match.

"It [the pitch] will be totally different," Raju said. "There is a lot of grass and [it has] good clay content. It's hard on the surface with good moisture underneath."

India and Australia recently played a one-day international here in September on a flat track. Australia scored 307 for 7 before rain washed out the game. Raju, however, said the wicket wouldn't be similar to that one.

"It's a new pitch. The clay is from Mandya [a town 100 km from Bangalore] and we've tested the soil; it's a good cricketing soil so we have used it."

If the pitch lives up to expectation, it will have something for everyone. Raju said it would aid fast bowling on the first couple of days, the ball would come on to the bat, and it would spin as the match progressed. In short, expect runs and wickets.

The surface used for the Afro-Asia match in June offered plenty of bounce and seam movement to Morne Morkel and Mohammad Asif. In preparation for that match and the one-dayer against Australia, the Karnataka State Cricket Association had called in two experts; Mark Hooker from the New Zealand Turf institute, and Chris Lewis who works at the Jade Stadium in Christchurch.

Both of them have been in Bangalore for a week to help prepare the pitch for the Test match. The weather in the city has been overcast over the last couple of days and it drizzled on Thursday evening, which according to Hooker, could affect how the pitch plays. However, the director of the meteorology department, GS Vijayraghavan, said that the weather was likely to improve from tomorrow.

"I don't know how this wicket is going to play," Hooker said. "It depends on what happens with the weather. If we keep getting rain like this, it might be a bit of a green pitch. If we get a bit of sunlight tomorrow, I'm hoping it will get a bit harder. I want it to get harder so that we can get a bit of pace and bounce."

If the pitch does favour the fast bowlers, it could work to Pakistan's advantage for they have a potent pace attack led by a fully-fit Shoaib Akhtar. India fast-bowling resources are depleted, with Zaheer Khan, RP Singh and Munaf Patel ruled out of the Test due to injury.