With the International Cricket Council (ICC) rating the pitch for the recently concluded third Test between India and South Africa in Nagpur as "poor" on Tuesday, the spotlight is back on pitches in the country.
But the controversy is not restricted just to the top level. On Tuesday, 122 wickets fell in 12 Ranji Trophy matches during the opening day of the last round of league matches.
The Group B fixture between Tamil Nadu and Punjab in Dindigul saw 21 wickets fall. In Malappuram, hosts Kerala and Himachal Pradesh were all out in their first innings, while Maharashtra, Team Rajasthan, Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir were all bowled out in their first innings elsewhere.
Former India captain Rahul Dravid had recently slammed the nature of pitches in Ranji Trophy.
"It's disappointing to see this," Dravid had said in Kolkata last week after the Bengal-Odisha game ended within two days. "I don't want to specifically mention the Bengal game, but all around, in the Ranji Trophy this year, teams are producing poor wickets – square turners where matches are finishing in two or three days. I don't think it's good for the health of Indian cricket."
A Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) curator, too, shared the concern.
"It is a serious concern and the BCCI has taken notice of it. This is the final round of the season, so it will be difficult to do something now. Whatever can be done will be done only next year as far as the improvement of wickets are concerned," the curator said on condition of anonymity.
Interestingly, with teams desperate to win points and seek qualification for the quarterfinals, the decision to prepare tracks to suit the home side has backfired. Tamil Nadu were bowled out for just 68 in response to Punjab's 206 in their home ground in Dindigul.
"You do whatever is necessary to win," TN coach M Sanjay told dna on Tuesday.
"State associations are of the view that if India are doing well at the Test level, why can't we also do it at national level? Having said that, we have not dished out an under-prepared wicket. We prepared a spin-friendly pitch.
Everyone wants to prepare the pitch to the home team's advantage," Sanjay said, adding "the demons are on the batsmen's head".
Low-scoring matches have been the norm this domestic season. When Saurashtra won two of their first three matches in two days in Rajkot, their coach Sitanshu Kotak said they had decided to "produce turning pitches that will yield outright results rather than dull draws".
Left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja was the key bowler for Saurashtra on those tracks, picking up a five-wicket haul in each innings of those three matches, thereby forcing his way back into the Indian Test team.
Sanjay said the current trend of matches ending in two or three days has also got to do with modern-day cricketers "who do not have the patience and want things to happen fast in their quest to get results".
The BCCI curator, however, promised to rectify things for the knockout rounds that begin from February 3, 2016.
"As far as the knockout rounds are concerned, the BCCI has identified the venues and the curators will be overseeing the wickets in order to have a neutrality factor," he said.
But with the Indian Test captain Virat Kohli voicing his support for pitches that produce results – even if matches end in three days – the trend is unlikely to stop anytime soon.
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