Australian legend Matthew Hayden criticized the Indore pitch and expressed sympathy for the Test cricket fans. “No way should spinners come to bowl in the sixth over. This is the reason I don’t like these kinds of surfaces. It shouldn’t be keeping this low and turning so much on Day 1. It doesn’t matter whether Australia wins this Test or India. These kinds of surfaces are not good for Test cricket,” said Hayden on air.
The fact that the pitch behaved as it did could be attributed to its excessive use and the curators’ lack of preparation time due to the announcement being made at the eleventh hour after the Himachal Pradesh CA’s failure to prepare its venue. Only last month was an ODI played at the venue, which has been used for domestic cricket matches since September.
“That could be also the reason the bounce is uneven. They did not get much time to water and hold the wicket,” opined Vengsarkar. A pitch expert who did not wish to be named said it takes at least a month to prepare a good wicket for a Test match. The square houses pitch both with red and black soil but the game is played on the latter.
It is believed that black soil helps in offering more turn and also retains moisture which helps in deviation in the air also. “It takes at least month to prepare a Test wicket. Pitches too need rest. In this case, there was not even two weeks of time in between Ranji Trophy semi-final and this game. Before that there was an ODI played against New Zealand last month. That seems to have contributed to how the pitch is behaving,” said an expert in know of things.