IND vs AUS: Bald surface to the four as India eye WTC final berth

Skipper Rohit Sharma inspects the pitch yesterday. Pic/AP;PTI

Rohit Sharma may keep saying that he doesn't like the focus to be on the pitch, but the fact is that the 22-yard strip will remain the talking point because so much depends on it. The first thing the captain and coach do is inspect the strip because the strategy of a team depends on the type of pitch on offer. And it's no different for the crucial fourth Test match begins at the Narendra Modi Stadium here on Thursday.

There were two pitches prepared on the extreme sides - one surface with a bit of grass on it and another rather bald one, which obviously will be used for the game. One wonders why the extreme edges have been chosen to prepare the pitches, rather than using the four centre strips.

The India skipper had said before the Indore Test that if the hosts win the series there, they could try out the grassy surface in the fourth Test. But with India now needing to win this match to enter the World Test Championship final in London in June against Australia, it's no surprise that the grassy pitch has been dropped from the plan and the bald surface is preferred.

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Coach Rahul Dravid conceded at the media interaction last evening that the race for the WTC final berth had made wickets challenging, not only in India, but also overseas. "Surely we do not want to have pitches that fail to produce results. So, we are seeing more pitches that produce results. We have seen on overseas wickets, spinners being taken out of the equation. And here in India, we have spinners playing the pivotal role," the India coach said.

As of now, it seems that the pitch in Ahmedabad is much better than the one encountered at Indore and even the practice pitches outside the ground had the batsmen playing their strokes freely. For the sake of the fans and spectators, one hopes that this match lasts at least till the fourth day, if not the fifth. Nobody would want a bloody boxing bout that ends in the third round rather than going all the way. Coach Dravid though is not too perturbed by the length of the fight as long as the contest is good. "On a challenging pitch, sometimes a 50 or 60, may be worth [its weight] in gold rather than a double century on a placid track," he said.