KSCA pitch may aid spin

Even as the pitch lay exposed to glorious sunshine, curator Kasturirangan heaved a sigh of relief that his men would get a further two days to prepare the pitch.

“The rains would have helped keep moisture on the pitch. Even otherwise we will manually water the pitch today and tomorrow. It will stay bound that way. But under these sunny conditions, it will start breaking up early,” he said.

Kasturi expected the pitch to be receptive to spin bowling by the second evening. And surely this must be good news for the beleaguered Indians.

Of course the news that BCCI secretary JY Lele has ordered the pitch committee (of which Kasturi is a member) to keep far away from match venues can hardly be reassuring for the visiting South African team.

At the moment, however, it is the Indian team that needs all the reassuring. And surely the most reassuring prop would be a spinner friendly pitch.

The South Africans, who play spin as indifferently as the Indians handle pace bowling, expect another of their main batsmen, Darryl Cullinan, to be fully fit for the Test.

But it is the level of their preparation for this series that is intriguing. Their manager, Goolam Rajah did a recce of India a couple of months ago. Besides visiting KSCA, the recce team went around the team hotel, checked the restaurants and other places of leisure in and around the hotel and prepared the cricketers mentally for all eventualities (on and off the field) during this sojourn.

Besides, each of the players has been given an individual room (usually barring the skipper and senior players, two are fitted into each room) and they also have requisitioned a separate room with audio visual facilities for the exclusive use of their players at any time of the day.

Thus skipper Hansie Cronje’s statement that the South Africans were fully prepared for this tour is not the empty boast people thought it to be.

Still, all the preparations would come to nought if the Indian batsmen post a healthy total and give their spinners some leeway. Sachin Tendulkar and his batsmen surely have their task cut out.