Ahmedabad, Nov. 3: Two years on the eve of India’s Test against South Africa here, the then India captain Anil Kumble had sparred with curator Dhiraj Parsana after the latter’s refusal to shave grass from the strip at Motera. Three days later, India were beaten by a record an innings and 90 run-margin, the side collapsing to 76 in their first batting stint.
In the next Test here, the visiting Sri Lankans ran up 760 in their first innings with the hard-as-rock track refusing to break even in the final few hours of fifth day’s proceedings.
These incidents have caused a lot of anxiety over how it will behave this time around. Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni was seen having an animated discussion with the curator on Wednesday, and later admitted that he had little clue about the conditions here. “Hopefully, it will be a turner,” said Dhoni with a smile. “We’ll have to see before the start of play. It has less grass when compared to the Sri Lanka game and a lot less than the South African one.”
The number of times the track has been relaid here in the past few years rivals the equally controversial one at the Kotla in Delhi. After a Test here in 2005, the match referee Clive Lloyd had called for an ICC pitch inspection. After the match against Sri Lanka last year, Harbhajan Singh had called for one by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.
“Such pitches will kill Test cricket. It’s a free ticket to batsmen and offer no contest,” Harbhajan said.