Same old script - batsmen revel and bowlers struggle

One team scores 536 to which the other team replies with 421. In another game, one side kicks off with a small matter of 708 for eight declared and the opponents reply with 477. In both cases, the first innings are not completed till midway through the last day of a four day match.

Welcome to another edition of Indian cricket, the domestic chapter. Nothing really has changed over the years. Indian pitches are those on which the batsmen make merry and the bowlers are made to suffer. So while in one match, seven three figure knocks are notched up, and in the other game there are three hundreds scored, there are also figures of two for 164, three for 167, two for 125, no wicket for 93 and no wicket for 94 against the names of bowlers who are good enough to have played for the country.

The indications that nothing has changed were there during the league stage of the Ranji Trophy championship but the lop sided nature of the contests between bat and ball became even more pronounced as the Duleep Trophy matches commenced. What else can one say when on a heartless surface at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium in Vijayawada, one side registers a score of 326 for three off 58 overs in the last two sessions of the game?

What valuable points can be picked up by the selectors who watch batsmen relentlessly pile up centuries and double centuries on amiable wickets? If anything, the selectors will have to keep an eye for any lion hearted bowlers who can brave the adverse conditions and come up with figures that catch the eye. Like North Zone's medium pacer Surendra Singh who had five for 115 against South Zone and Central Zone's seamer Shalabh Srivastava who picked up four for 62 against West Zone. But is it possible to expect bowlers to maintain this form in four matches in conditions heavily loaded against them? However, one supposes that the bowlers can take heart from the statement of Chandu Borde, chairman of the selection committee, who is firmly of the view that the attitude towards the task on hand for the bowlers would be more important than the wickets tally.

Just about a year ago, as the Indian team came back from a disastrous tour of Australia there was much talk of preparing fast and sporting tracks in this country, since it was underscored that one of the reasons for India's debacle down under was the inability of the batsman to play McGrath and co. on bouncy tracks. Suddenly the pitches committee became a high profile body. The personnel went around the country to explore the possibilities of laying such tracks. Whatever happened to those grandiose plans? Well, the pitches committee discovered that, at best, their role was only recommendatory and when they found they were not getting co operation from various sources, they promptly lost interest.

Worse, the committee was even humiliated by the board. Remember what happened last year after the Mumbai Test against South Africa had been lost in three days? The BCCI secretary JY Lele issued a statement saying that the committee, which was headed by former Indian captain K Srikkanth, should have nothing to do with the pitch preparation at Bangalore, the venue of the second Test. Naturally, the committee members were miffed and there was a stand off between the two. The rift grew when it was made known that BCCI president AC Muthiah was unhappy as he had not been informed about the decision. The upshot was that the Indians lost the Bangalore Test by an even heavier margin. This kind of brazen, uncalled for and ill timed interference by the Board meant that the pitches committee, which had started tackling a tough task in real earnest, became disillusioned.

All this explains why domestic cricket is still played on pitches on which the matches are but a mockery of the competitive values of cricket. Which will also explain why the Indian team will again be routed when they play on faster and bouncier tracks abroad. But is anyone listening?