The Aussies have not talked about the Indian team yet and a team discussion on their semi-final opponents is scheduled for later in the week. But even before reaching Sydney, and right after the Quarter-final win against Pakistan in Adelaide, various team members from the Australian squad have been talking about the Sydney pitch and how they would like to have some green on the top to aid their battery of quicks.
The SCG’s unfathomable pitch, however, takes away the stardom from both sides and is often the topic of intense speculation before any match, the Thursday semi-final between India and Australia not being any different.
Such is its potential to spin, seam or turn out flat that at least five-six members of the Indian team, including skipper MS Dhoni and coach Duncan Fletcher, who came to the ground two days after landing in Sydney, preferring instead to do some fitness and conditioning drills in the hotel, straightaway gathered around the pitch on Monday and discussed the middle for at least 20 minutes before going for their training drill.
The massive stone roller sitting stout in the Walk of Honour next only to Steve Waugh’s life-size statue on one periphery of the stadium occupies pride of place. It was in use till 1954 and was driven by a horse carriage with the horses wearing soft shoes so as to not damage or dent the pitch. It was drawn by a special horse called ‘Boxer’, giving the roller its unique name.
On this Monday, however, a much more modern, mechanised and bigger one was rolling down the pitch horizontally, settling it down under the keen eye of SCG’s iconic curator Tom Parker. Parker, who has been in this singular job for the past 18 years and is known to have a mind of his own, was being given company by the ICC’s chief of grounds and pitches committee Andy Atkinson, who was on inspection work since early morning.
Even as the pitch was being prepared for the big ticket match, speculation peaked about which one would it beIJ The one on which Sri lanka played South Africa and in which the SA spinners took seven wickets, or the one on which South Africa went ballistic against the West Indies, scoring more than 400 runsIJ
Having an Achilles heel in the spinning department, the Aussies are naturally demanding a quick companion with pacers like Josh Hazelwood even going to the extent of subtly asking Parker to oblige. The Indians are yet to say anything on the issue and would be more than happy to get a turner which would show off the skills of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
The last time Australia played Sri lanka on the spin pitch, its lead spinner Xavier Doherty went wicket-less and was hunted for 60 runs with Clarke expressing disgust that the track refused to spin even a wee bit that day. Clarke has been vocal enough to say at Adelaide that to the best of his knowledge there was no spin on that pitch.
Even the Duminy hattrick and Imran Tahir’s 4-for against Sri lanka were more about the pressured mind than anything near a spin.
On their part, the Australians are neither known to play spin well nor do they have a high quality spinner in their midst, what with the team choosing Doherty over their No. 1 Test spinner Nathan lyon. Clarke, however, said that there are no worries in the spin department with Glen Maxwell and him being there to turn an arm to good effect.
All talk of spin and seam may however look childish in front of the ICC’s express instructions to the ground staff at all venues to keep it a good batting track, in other words a flat wicket letting off a run fest.
Meanwhile, oblivious to so many eyes on it, the track looked brown with a hint of grass — not green but dry and brown — which means the heavy Bulli this time around might decide to give safe passage to batsmen, awaiting a run fest.