India vs. Australia: Next pit stop in the home dominance is Indore

INDORE: The Holkar Stadium field is as bare as a cue ball at the ends, but on this particular day, there are two peculiar-appearing rectangular patches near the left-off-stump hander’s at either end, as if two bar-code stamps had been abruptly yanked off at these locations.

A good-sized area of what can only be described as “reddish-soil-pitch-matter” is cut off at one end by a runny line. There is visible grass in the middle, and on this hot Sunday afternoon—unusually warm for this time of year—there is also liberal watering.

The third Test between Australia and India, which begins on Wednesday, is the major event, and the surface is being cleaned and polished in preparation. A veritable army of ground personnel is fussing and worrying over their most recent invention. After all, the pitch plays a crucial role in India’s domestic Test strategy.

Rahul Dravid, the coach of India, adopts a no-interference stance from a close distance. His attention is instead diverted to struggling KL Rahul, who has chosen to engage in a lengthy nets session. Suryakumar Yadav eventually makes his way up for a quick chat with the “pitch people.” A red ball “bounce” test is also conducted in between, though the attempt is given up in the middle.

All of this is hoodoo, meant to instantly evoke fear, in the eyes of any onlooking Australians. For visiting batsmen, reading these pitches has become increasingly frustrating due to the different soil characteristics at each location and the degree of turn and wear. This results in the kind of paralysing doubt and rash strokeplay that have marred Australia’s series campaign thus far.

These allegedly undercooked pitches have controlled the narrative, occasionally even undermining India’s excellent attack, even when they haven’t delivered the expected diet of poisonous turn and toxic natural variation.

Visiting teams frequently criticise India’s brilliant bowling performances on these allegedly “doctored” wickets. For context, consider what happened in the previous Test of this series at the Ferozeshah Kotla, where Australia collapsed on the third morning from a position of strength. They utilised the field rather than the bowlers from India.

Such surfaces have served as the focal point of India’s complete dominance and mastery of spin-friendly home conditions for the past ten years, along with the precise, penetrative, and relentless attack. The top order has frequently been forced to forgo its desire for big, simple home runs in the pursuit of victory due to the bowlers’ mastery.

India, which is leading this four-game series 2-0 going into Indore, has won 15 straight domestic series dating back to February 2013. How effective has India been?

The great Australian teams of the 1990s won 10 consecutive series between November 1994 and January 2001, and 10 more between July 2004 and December 2008, the decade after.

India has an 88.89 win percentage at home, the highest of the top three teams since the year began, compared to Australia’s 69.23% and New Zealand’s 68.42%. India has won 36 of the 44 home games they have played since the year began, or 81.82% of those games. They have just two losses.

These are some significant figures, and it can be argued that India has been among the top Test teams over the past ten years, at least at home. India made test-playing history in 2019 when they won 4 straight games by innings. Since 2018, India has won 16 (out of 18) tests at home, winning 2 in the first two days, 9 on the third day, 4 on the fourth day, and only 1 in the full five days.

Does this imply that Steve Smith and the company won’t be able to prevail in Indore or even extend the game? Definitely not. They did have their moments in Delhi, after all. But they face a strong assault that knows how to take advantage of domestic circumstances cleverly.

Australians now have a significant challenge to face.

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