Of true bounce and doctored turners

DHAKA, BANGLADESH – FEBRUARY 19: The Indian team celebrate victory over Bangladesh after winning by 87 runs during the opening game of the ICC Cricket World Cup between Bangladesh and India at the Shere-e-Bangla National Stadium on February 19, 2011 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

No matter how consistent and how respected for consistency someone might be, there is nothing quite as dramatic and awe inspiring as a comeback!

Consistency reiterates and comebacks reinstate. Although consistency is about remaining at your best and giving your best all the time, comebacks in their truest sense have a whole story line to it. And we as sports lovers, love fairy tale finishes. After the 4-0 drubbing at the hands of England in 2011, Indians fans are eager for a face-off against the English and they hope for a fairy-tale finish in their favor.

The recent decision of the new selection panel of the BCCI to not play any spinners in the India A team and hence deny the English a chance to get a taste of things to come has had winking supporters and livid critics alike. As the return series after the 2011 debacle begins, the Indians will try to use spin as the not-so-secret but just-as-lethal a weapon to upstage the English and complete a comeback to the delight of their fans.

The new selection panel and its first major decision can be held as precocious or even dubious in nature. But one thing is for sure, we as fans will have a treat in our hands as the Indian commentators will try and defend why spinning tracks are fair and the English will cry foul for every time the ball changes its direction en route to the batsmen. Elsewhere on the pitch, not very used to the sharp turn and the helmet clad close-in fielders, this tour promises to be a challenge for the England team.

But isn’t this just why away wins are so much more satisfying for the players than the wins in front of home fans? When a team against all odds achieves the unlikely, we as fans fans cant stop boasting about it. That sound of silence in the stadium of the home team has the power to ring a bell in the heads of the players more often than the ever cheering home fans.

I have always been surprised why Indian wickets have often been labelled doctored turners while the wickets from Australia, England and South Africa enjoy the white collar name of having true bounce! When India tours these countries and doesn’t do well, we often talk about how our team couldn’t cope up with the bouncy, seaming and swinging conditions. I don’t remember an Indian captain going to the press and saying “Oh that one bounced way too much for our liking.”

On the other hand, making a noise about how unreal the turn was on a particular wicket was has often been a case with visiting team’s captains. Alistair Cook, a good player of spin himself has a team that has done well facing spin the past. Add to that the flair of Kevin Pietersen and the recently demoted to No. 2 cricket side in the world is equipped to face the challenge. They have perhaps the best off spinner in test cricket in Graeme Swann who can himself turn it square with the assisting wicket.

As the talks on spin and spin-assisting wickets will continue, mainly because there are too many media houses asking for opinion from everybody possible, we hope for a great series. We hope Alistair Cook will accept the fact that the pitches turn in India and find ways to tackle it. We hope the English are better prepared than the Indians for foreign conditions for its important that we have good quality games.

I’m Excited!