Where the evidence for 'designer' pitches?

There has been much debate over whether the pitch at The Oval was designed to help the home side win, a charge long levelled at Indian tracks. Dileep Premachandran writes in the Guardian that there was nothing wrong with The Oval surface, and also points out that Indian pitches aren't the dustbowls they once were.

It might help to work with facts, rather than Ashes-inspired emotion. England finished the opening day on 307 for eight from 85.3 overs. Both sides scored more than 347 in their second innings. The innings of the match was played on the third day by a man making his Test debut. The best spell of the game came from a young pace bowler, but there were wickets too for the spinners, one of them a part-timer. And, most importantly, there was a result, not five days of mind-numbing tedium as seen in the Caribbean earlier this year, with every man jack seemingly capable of scoring a century.