Of dead pitches and runs galore

If you tuned into last week's opening Test between India and South Africa at Chennai, you would have wondered why such a fuss was being made about it being ''the race to be No.2.''
Ever since the South Africans have landed here, the pundits have been going ga-ga about it being a contest between two teams to decide who would claim the no.2 spot in the ICC Test rankings. For an outside observer this suggestion would seem absurd to the point of being ridiculous since he would think that neither of the teams had any sort of bowling prowess to take the much cliched ''20 wickets'' required to win Test matches.

However such an observation would be inncaurate. No, the two bowling attacks are not paper tigers. Every performer requires an occasion to perform, but sadly the series organisers chose to deprive these performers of their occasion. They prepared a pitch on which, as Geoff Boycott would claim, his mum could make a century. And no, he would not be entirely incorrect.

What cricket administrators in India need to realize is that they cannot take their place for granted. With the emergence of T20, Test cricket is in troubled waters. People simply do not have the time, or for that matter, the inclination, to sit through five gruelling days of cricket.
The least they could do is to ensure that all pitches are result-oriented ones. No one these days would be too happy if you tell them that all they would get after watching 22 men battle it out for 8 hours everyday for 5 days is a result which found that there was nothing that could separate these sides. They would be much happier to come down after work, watch the ball being belted out of the ground, grab a beer, ogle at the dancing girls and go home. All done and dusted in 3 hours.

Bowlers are an oppressed lot in cricket these days. The regulations, the incresing size of bats, the decresing size of boundaries, and the increaingly aggressive attitude of batsmen is enough to make anyone throw their hands up in despair. It might even prompt some to throw in the towel. And then when you have to play on a pitch as dead as the one at Chennai, that is asking for a bit too much from these players. Of course, not everyone is in complaining, ask Virender Sehwag. Or Neil McKenzie for that matter. These two people, among several others, made merry as bowlers from both sides scrathched their heads, thinking of ways to commit suicide.


So don't rejoice if you see a scorecard that says that not more than 24 wickets could be taken over 5 days, it just puts to shame all hopes of a good contest between bat and ball.