People talk a lot about wickets. What I personally believe is that at the end of the day there is more hype over the wicket rather than the actual wicket itself, which is the truth.
Having played little bit of cricket for India, and captained India for a short while, I always believe that till the wicket are absolutely prepared and players start playing on it, nobody knows what the wickets hold - even the curator with consistency say, with a little bit of open faith, that the wickets will be staid or bouncy or something like that
But definitely, I presume that these wickets will be suiting the Pakistani medium pacers and fast bowlers, because they are going to rely mainly on Shoaib Akhtar to get the wickets. And little bit on Mohammad Sami and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and, of course, Danish Kanneria as a backup spinner.
More than fast wickets, which is what people have been talking about, they will go for a seaming track, which can be more dangerous for the Indians than a fast wicket. Actually Indians are good players on bouncy wickets. It's the seaming wickets, when the ball starts moving a bit, that is where the actual problem, I think, that Indians are going to face.
Two years back when we went to Australia in 2003, they were talking about hard tracks and bouncy tracks. But then I have always realised that on bouncy wickets we have bowled well and played well also.
It must be a misconception that Indians are good only on spinning tracks.
Actually, if one goes through the records carefully for the last say 20 years, especially outside India, we have won more matches on wickets that are helpful for medium pacers and seamers.
Just for an example, against Australia in Adelaide, we won the Test Match. It was only thanks to one brilliant, fiery spell by Ajit Agarkar that we won. Even in Sydney, the Australians were almost in trouble.
And again in Pakistan, when we went there two years back, it was the medium pacers who got us wickets, won the series. It's not the spinners who won the series. Of course, we have a good spinner in Anil Kumble as a backup support.
So I believe that we shouldn't worry too much about the wickets. It's an equal-equal situation here. Our bowlers are going to be as effective as the Pakistanis on good, green and moving wickets.
So, the point I am trying to drive home is that our bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, too, can be very dangerous on conditions that are moving and bouncier.
In fact if you ask me, if I were the Kenyan captain, I would have preferred to play and beat Pakistan in Pakistan on moving and bouncier tracks. Because I think it would be easier to beat Pakistan in Pakistan.
(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishinfotek.com)
About the AuthorKrishnamachari Srikkanth Krishnamachari Srikkanth was one of the most destructive batsmen who could decimate the strongest and most fearsome attacks in the world by his vast r...Read Morefirst published:January 12, 2006, 17:57 ISTlast updated:January 12, 2006, 17:57 IST
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The India-Pakistan cricket series is going to be an exciting one - everybody is talking about it and we all know that. A lot has been said about strategies, a lot has been said about Pakistani wickets.
People talk a lot about wickets. What I personally believe is that at the end of the day there is more hype over the wicket rather than the actual wicket itself, which is the truth.
Having played little bit of cricket for India, and captained India for a short while, I always believe that till the wicket are absolutely prepared and players start playing on it, nobody knows what the wickets hold - even the curator with consistency say, with a little bit of open faith, that the wickets will be staid or bouncy or something like that
But definitely, I presume that these wickets will be suiting the Pakistani medium pacers and fast bowlers, because they are going to rely mainly on Shoaib Akhtar to get the wickets. And little bit on Mohammad Sami and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and, of course, Danish Kanneria as a backup spinner.
More than fast wickets, which is what people have been talking about, they will go for a seaming track, which can be more dangerous for the Indians than a fast wicket. Actually Indians are good players on bouncy wickets. It's the seaming wickets, when the ball starts moving a bit, that is where the actual problem, I think, that Indians are going to face.
Two years back when we went to Australia in 2003, they were talking about hard tracks and bouncy tracks. But then I have always realised that on bouncy wickets we have bowled well and played well also.
It must be a misconception that Indians are good only on spinning tracks.
Actually, if one goes through the records carefully for the last say 20 years, especially outside India, we have won more matches on wickets that are helpful for medium pacers and seamers.
Just for an example, against Australia in Adelaide, we won the Test Match. It was only thanks to one brilliant, fiery spell by Ajit Agarkar that we won. Even in Sydney, the Australians were almost in trouble.
And again in Pakistan, when we went there two years back, it was the medium pacers who got us wickets, won the series. It's not the spinners who won the series. Of course, we have a good spinner in Anil Kumble as a backup support.
So I believe that we shouldn't worry too much about the wickets. It's an equal-equal situation here. Our bowlers are going to be as effective as the Pakistanis on good, green and moving wickets.
So, the point I am trying to drive home is that our bowlers like Zaheer Khan, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar, too, can be very dangerous on conditions that are moving and bouncier.
In fact if you ask me, if I were the Kenyan captain, I would have preferred to play and beat Pakistan in Pakistan on moving and bouncier tracks. Because I think it would be easier to beat Pakistan in Pakistan.
(Krish Srikkanth is a former skipper of Indian cricket team. He maintains a regular blog on IBNLive. His website is www.krishinfotek.com)
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