When captains spend time assessing the pitch in advance of an actual match, and then have a tête-à-tête with the pitch curator and groundsmen trying to gauge and get a sense of how it will behave, then you know that the tests are upon us. International cricket’s most testing event, a test series is the most definitive assessment of a team’s true mettle and it is here that the men in blue will look particularly to shine. They did not mind much when the two T20 matches were lost, in any case they made up in the ODIs. This, however is a matter of pride and prestige above all else in international cricket.

You know that it is test match time when you have seniors like Sachin Tendulkar getting down to business with the team junior Ishant Sharma and giving him a few valuable bowling pointers. Bringing his vast knowledge and experience to bear, he was reported in the cricket news as advising his young teammate, “Don’t worry if it’s over-pitched, once you get the release, the control will come.”

Rahul Dravid made a telling statement when he said that he had won tests all over the world except New Zealand, so that this is one victory that the Indian players are really hungry for! "I have played in a test match win everywhere in the world… except in New Zealand. I will try and make a good contribution to the team and if we can win the series; then there's nothing like it!" said Dravid.

The fact that the pitch is uppermost in most minds is obvious from the sharp scrutiny that it is getting from all quarters and the fact that it is being discussed and analysed extensively in the cricket news. Reportedly there are patches of green grass with spots of drier grass elsewhere.

Groundsman Karl Johnson gave his take on the pitch, “This track has got a moist base, and grass growing through the surface. We find that it holds together, and has a bit of pace. We’ll leave some of the grass on — around 7mm of it — which is more than is common in India. So there’ll be something in it,” he said.

Hopefully for the Indians looking to defy history the pacers will be able to extract the assistance from the track that will aid and abet them in their campaign to end a 40 year drought in terms of a series win for any Indian team!

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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