MOHALI: India has won the toss and chose to bat in the Test series beginner against South Africa at Mohali. It has been all about the nature of the pitch in talks, more than the players performance in the last few days prior to the match.There were wide speculations about a turning pitch at Mohali, but the curator in-charge dismissed the speculations saying that the ”aging pitch’ cannot turn the ball as expected.
The Indian media was behind the pitch curator Daljit Singh right after the end of the one day series against South Africa, as the nature of the pitch played a vital role in the series decider at Wankhade Stadium, which the home side lost by a heavy margin.
It was reported that there was a high debate about the wankhade strip between Indian Team director Ravi Shashtri and the Wankhade curator Naik. Shasthri openly criticized the curator saying that the pitch has nothing called as a home advantage. The Mumbai curator had also lodged an official complaint against the team director with the BCCI, for his alleged behavior after the conclusion of the match.
In this scenario, when Team India director has been calling for a maximum home advantage, the focus is all on the 73-year old Mohali pitch curator Daljit Singh. The cool and patient curator responding to the queries of the Indian media, said that he cannot guarantee the expectations of the Indian fans over the pitch.
“I cannot guarantee a definite pitch for the upcoming match. This is an old pitch. It has not been relaid for a period of 23 years. It is the tendency of the pitches to get slower with time like the humans get old. I cannot do much about it as i can only prepare a strip with the available resources. It is a slower pitch and may favor those who bat first”, curator Daljit said.
Luckily for India, Virat Kohli has won the toss and chose to bat first taking the advantage of the slow pitch, the curator said.
“Its my duty to provide a pitch which can yield a result. The rest is with the teams performing on it and how they display their skills. It is not appropriate for anyone out there to demand the nature of the pitch, i feel it is not a healthy game practice. Even if you intend to make certain desired changes to the pitch, it is highly impossible to alter the nature of the pitch drastically from its originality”, the curator said.
