RICKY Ponting and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have raised concerns about the pitch at M Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore after their team’s World Cup warm-up match on Sunday. India pulled off a thrilling 38-run victory over reigning champions Australia after figures of four for 31 and three for 15 from spinners Piyush Chawla and Harbhajan Singh respectively, saw the tournament co-hosts successfully defend their 214-run total.
Australia skipper Ponting stated afterwards the pitch had been turning too much, and said: “This one looked a bit under-prepared. Both teams lost constant wickets and it spun a lot in the second innings. Maybe they wanted to keep it nice and grassy for the tournament.”
He added: “Hopefully as the tournament goes on, we will get better wickets than this one. We know that as the tournament goes on, we could get wickets like this. We have to find a way to win in tough conditions.”
His comments came a day after Proteas captain Graeme Smith described the pitch at the refurbished M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai as “under-prepared, slow and dead” after an eight-wicket victory against Zimbabwe in another warm-up match,
India captain Dhoni was also aware of the Bangalore pitch’s condition, and believes the toss will be a decisive factor on such wickets.
“I hope we will not get the same wickets in the coming games,” he said.
“It is not possible to win every toss and it is difficult to chase anything over 230 on such wickets.
“If it is turning less then even if we lose the toss, we get a fair opportunity.” (PA Sport)