Five years after Virat Kohli suggested India must have Test centres, Sunil Gavaskar has asked for a BCCI sub-committee that will decide pitches to be used in India for home Test series. He wants the likes of Sachin Tendulkar, MS Dhoni and National Cricket Academy chief VVS Laxman apart from the chief selector Ajit Agarkar in the committee.
“There should be a committee which decides which pitch to be used in India. You could have Sachin, Gambhir, Dhoni, Agarkar, Laxman, apart from BCCI President and Secretary in the committee. I am just dropping names but I feel those should be the people deciding on pitches,” Sunil Gavaskar said during the IND vs SA 2nd Test.
Why Sunil Gavaskar wants pitch committee?
But why do India need a committee for pitches? Currently, captain and the coach have a lot of say in deciding the pitch for home Test series. Even though it is on the curators, captain and the coach give a lot of inputs to make pitches that suit India’s strengths.
However, the spin-friendly pitches have been India’s problem of late. India crushed England on dust bowls while Australia too struggled on pitches that suit spinners from Day 1. And it does not help India prepare.
When India go to countries like England and South Africa, they struggle on seaming conditions with lot of grass. In Australia or South Africa, Indian batters struggle on bouncy pitches.
Having a committee to decide on the pitches will certainly take away power from captain and the coach. But even then, the former greats can influence a change and help India prepare better for overseas Test series.
In 2019, Virat Kohli suggested that India should finalise only five Test centres for home Test series. He said India can play ODIs and T20Is in different states and cities. But for Tests, he said India should have designated centers so the team knows what to expect and plan accordingly.
“We’ve been discussing this for a long time now, and in my opinion we should have five Test centres, period. I mean, I agree with state associations and rotation and giving games and all that. That is fine for T20 and one-day cricket. But in Test cricket, teams coming to India should know, ‘we’re going to play at these five centres, these are the pitches we’re going to expect, these are the kind of people that will come to watch, crowds’,” Virat Kohli said in 2019.
