It’s the least Indian of all Indian grounds at least at a conditions level, as the pitch is fast and bouncy
Karthik Krishnaswamy05-Mar-20247:09
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Just over three weeks ago, the HPCA Stadium hosted a Ranji Trophy match between Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, where seamers took all 36 wickets that fell over its four days.This was far from unusual. In four Ranji games at the venue this season, fast bowlers have bowled a combined 814 overs and taken 122 wickets at an average of 23.17. Spinners have sent down 122.2 overs, and taken seven wickets at 58.42.The fast bowlers, in short, have taken as many wickets as spinners have bowled overs.Welcome to Dharamsala. It’s cold here, it’s high up in the Himalayas, and it has what may well be the most spectacular backdrop of any sporting venue in the world. It’s only natural to come here to watch cricket and go back having spent more time gazing upon the snow-veined Dhauladhars and pondering your own insignificance in the grand scheme of geological space and time.Related
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It’s also the least Indian of Indian grounds at a conditions level: the pitch here is fast and bouncy, and during the winter months when cricket is played in India, it doesn’t bake under the sun and deteriorate in the way Indian pitches tend to. Fast bowlers like it here.Spinners? Well, it’s complicated.It’s clearly not a ground for spinners during India’s domestic season. Over the 49 first-class games that have been played here, they have averaged 41.02 to the fast bowlers’ 27.90.But there’s only so much extrapolation you can do when a Test match rolls into town.Dharamshala has hosted one previous Test, back in March 2017, and while it’s fondly remembered by India fans for Umesh Yadav’s third-innings spell of new-ball venom, it was also a match where spinners took 18 of the 30 wickets that fell to bowlers. Kuldeep Yadav made his debut and took a first-innings four-for; Nathan Lyon picked up five in India’s first innings; R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja shared six in Australia’s second.Before that Test match, the pitch had worn a tinge of green, and the curator had said it would offer something to all four disciplines: pace, spin and batting, of course, but fielding too, with good carry to the slips cordon.Axar Patel, Shubman Gill, R Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Sarfaraz Khan and Rajat Patidar in training•AFP/Getty ImagesThe pitch delivered on that promise, and it helped that the match was played in the end of March, by which time warmer weather had arrived in Dharamsala. The sun helped turn the surface into something like day four in Australian conditions- fast and bouncy but with plenty of cracks for the spinners to work with.It’s a little different now, as Dharamsala gears up for its second Test match. It’s still the first week of March, and there has been rain in the weeks leading up to the game. Rain is forecast for Thursday, day one of the Test match, and maximum temperatures on all five days are likely to hover in the early to mid-teens (Celsius). It’s not the kind of weather for cracks to open up.Against that, though, is the look of the pitch itself, two days out from the match. It seemed to be a pale brown rather than green – the pitch that hosted the third Test in Rajkot had looked significantly greener in the lead-up – and Jonny Bairstow called it a “used pitch” in his press conference on Tuesday. He was not wrong, since it’s the same pitch that was used in that HP-Delhi game, but that was three weeks ago – how much time must elapse between matches for a used pitch to cease being one?James Anderson bowls with the Himalayas in the background•Getty ImagesEven so, it seemed fairly evident that the powers that be have made an effort to get this pitch to play in as Indian a way as possible, and minimise the advantages it bestows upon fast bowlers through its soil and location.It could still be fast and bouncy, then, and there could be swing if it’s overcast – as is likely to be a case for at least parts of the Test match – but it’s not a green seamer. The fast bowlers could still have a big influence, but the spinners could enjoy the bounce too. The lack of grass on the surface could help it wear a little quicker, though how quickly, in these conditions, remains to be seen.The outfield – a distinctly different and darker green to the square – is lush. Reverse-swing, if it happens, may take some time to happen.From England’s perspective, any help for the fast bowlers is welcome, potentially even-ing the battle between the two attacks. There is every chance they will play three quicks.It’s a little trickier for India to play an extra seamer, though. Any Indian pitch that’s not an outright greentop – and this one isn’t – is one where Ashwin. Jadeja and Kuldeep can find a way to take wickets. They’ll certainly enjoy the bounce, particularly if England keep sweeping and bring the top edge into play. And cooler weather allows fast bowlers to extend their spells; Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj, used judiciously, could still deliver enough overs to ensure India don’t waste windows of fast-bowling opportunity.The question for India is whether a third seamer – likely Akash Deep – could get them more wickets, and get them quicker and cheaper, than a third spinner. It’s a question they’re likely to spend a lot of time mulling over, over the next day-and-a-half. It’s the kind of question they rarely have to ask themselves when they’re playing at home, but this is Dharamsala. Everything is different here.
