Xtra Time Web Desk: All eyes will be on the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium, the venue of the fourth and final test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The Gujarat Cricket Association has prepared pitches both with red and black soil. With two days to go for the test match, the Indian team management is still in a dilemma whether to go for a rank turner like previous three tests or have a sporting wicket.
Rohit Sharma and his boys need to win the fourth test against Australia in order to guarantee a place in the World Test Championship final at the Oval in June.
The wickets for the ongoing test series have dominated discussions. It will once again be the talking point as the home team has not decided on which pitch, they want to play. The pitches for the first two tests in Nagpur and Delhi was rated “average” by ICC match referee while the one used in Indore was labelled “poor” by Chris Broad and docked three demerit points.
The plan to have a rank-turner from Day 1 backfired on India were bowled out for 109 and 163, and they could only set a target of 76 runs for the visitors. Australia convincingly won the third test at Indore by 9 wickets.
Though there are still a few days before the match starts, the curators have not received any instruction from the Indian team management or the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) about the preparation of the pitch. It seems like even the Indian camp has a ‘dilemma’ over what sort of pitch they want to be prepared.