The chorus against the pitch on offer for the final India-South Africa Test match at Johannesburg grew after former India captain Sourav Ganguly termed the conditions as ‘unfair’ for the batsmen and even appealed to the International Cricket Council to look into the matter.
"To play test cricket on this surface is unfair ...saw it in NZ in 2003 ...batsman have minimum chance ...ICC should look into it," tweeted Ganguly.
Ganguly’s comments came after India’s No. 3 Cheteshwar Pujara described the conditions at SuperSport Park as the toughest ever in his Test career.
India were bowled out for 187 after Virat Kohli decided to bat first after winning the toss. In reply, South Africa lost opener Aiden Markram for 2 and went to stumps at 6 for 1.
While overnight rains may have spiced things up a bit more, the conditions were still far from what could be described as normal. The ball zipped off the surface with considerable lateral movement throughout the day. Pretty much all the South African bowlers utilized the conditions to good effect, reducing India’s scoring rate to just 2.43 runs per over.
Cheteshwar Pujara had to face 54 deliveries to get off the mark as it was merely impossible to even put bat to ball in the first session against Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada.
India’s No. 3, who played a brave 50-run knock off 179 balls, spending over five hours in the middle, predicted similar struggle for the batsmen in the next couple of days.
Both captains assessed the conditions well enough, deciding to go in with an all out seam attack. This is the first time India have gone in to a Test match with five medium pacers and only the second time after 2012 when no spinner was included in India’s playing XI.