How will be the pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad for the 4th India vs Australia Test is still a question.
While Rohit Sharma made it clear that India will play to their strength and prepare pitches that will assist the spinners, former Indian head coach Ravi Shastri also agreed that the Ahmedabad pitch will turn but “how quickly?” he asked.
“It will turn but the question is, how quickly? How long will they keep it in the oven? They kept it a bit long for this time,” said Shastri on Star Sports referring to the Indore pitch.
“It will be really nice to see a pitch that allows both of these great batting units to showcase their skills and abilities,” said former Australia opener Matthew Hayden.
“True. I think a lot of spectators around the world would want that. Batters of both teams would want that,” Shastri agreed.
As far as the pitch preparations in Gujarat are concerned, the local association has not received any specific instructions from the Indian team management.
“We haven’t received any instructions from the Indian team management and our local curators are preparing a normal track as we have always done through the season,” a state association source told PTI on Saturday.
“In fact, in the last Ranji game over here in January, Railways scored 500 plus (508) batting first and Gujarat, although suffering an innings defeat, scored 200 plus in both innings. It won’t be too different this time,” he said.
“Obviously, in the last few days the BCCI’s grounds and pitches committee instructed the local curator. But, certainly, from our end our endeavour is to produce a good Test match pitch,” the official said.
“You have to factor in that the Day/Night Test and the one after that were the first ones held after the stadium was refurbished and you had no clue how the pitch will pan out,” he added.