Doubts regarding the fitness of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir for today's fourth ODI against Australia at Mohali will be particularly galling for Mahendra Singh Dhoni's resurgent team.
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Both dashing batsmen were injured during Saturday's ODI at Delhi and the absence of either or worse, both, could severely arrest the momentum of the team's batting in its bid to go 3-1 up in the seven-match series.
Moreover, veteran curator Daljit Singh, chairman of the BCCI's Grounds and Pitches Committee, and arguably the most knowledgeable groundsman in the country, has promised a wicket chockfull of runs that would have been the answer to the injured Delhi batsmen's' prayers after the nightmarish pitch at their home Ferozeshah Kotla ground.
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Mohali curator Daljit Singh, who is chairman of the BCCI's Grounds and Pitches Committeeu00a0 |
"The wicket will have good bounce and carry. It will provide the batsmen with lots of runs."
After substandard wickets at some Champions League venues which have resulted in low-scoring games, Daljit's assurance will please fans of one-day cricket, who can expect a runfest in today's game.
Sporting tracks
It has come in the wake of a call by the International Cricket Council (ICC) to all its member nations to prepare sporting wickets for the one-dayers and Twenty20 internationals, following the low-scoring games in the Champions Trophy and Champions League Twenty20 tournaments.
Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar, too, has endorsed the call by the ICC in his syndicated column.
"Pitches like the ones in Hyderabad and Nagpur should be used in domestic first class and junior-level matches so that our players get used to playing on similar surfaces when they go abroad," he wrote yesterday.
A former distinguished Ranji Trophy wicket-keeper, Daljit Singh told the media here on Saturday that the hosts, the Punjab Cricketu00a0 Association (PCA) will useu00a0 APSA-AT, a chemical spray, on the outfield to minimise the expected winter dew in the later stages of the game.
"The chemical spray will not eradicate the dew completely, but it is expected to reduce it significantly.
"The procedure should not have any effect on the ball and spraying is one of a number of measures that will be taken in the run-up to the game to reduce the amount of moisture on the ground.
"In order to curb the dew effect we have also ensured that the outfield is not watered two days before the match and we will cut the grass low to minimise the effects of dew."
However, he also warned that if the dew (in the winter which is setting in), is heavy, bowlers, especially spinners, will find it difficult to grip the ball in the second session.
"The batsmen will relish batting here and the wicket won't slow down or keep low in the second part of the match. It will mean that the team chasing will have no problems from the surface," Daljit Singh said.
"A good one-day wicket should give the team batting second a chance to chase. Tracks here at Mohali have generally been as good in second innings as in the first and it would be no different this time around. We have made sure that the wicket stays the same as the game progresses.
"In the last ODI played here in November 2007, Pakistan chased the target of 322 set by India," he added.
The track at the Mohali stadium, rated the best in the country, has traditionally more bounce and carry than other pitches in the country. The Punjab Cricket Association has also tried a new variety of grass, supplied by Baranbelt of the US,u00a0u00a0 for the wicket.
According to Daljit, organisers of the Indian Open golf tournament used the American grass with excellent results. He says it turned the Delhi course, which is usually brownish at that time of year, green in a fortnight.
Good results
"I S Bindra (principal advisor to the ICC and PCA president) asked me to find out how we could achieve a similar result. We initially tried it on a small part of the ground and one wicket. The results were very good.
"We didn't have such ground cover in 10 years," he said.
Meanwhile, Bindra said, "I am confident we will have a great match.
"Last time when we hosted the India-England Test match we had just seven days' notice to bring the stadium up to speed and we delivered. This time we have had a lot of time.
"I have been told by the pitch curator that we can expect more than 500 runs. So the fans are in for a real treat."
He also told the media at a briefing that tickets have been sold out and a full house is expected.
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