Vishwas Puri
The Indian cricket team will be seen back in action in whites after a long period of 6 months. Both the teams have already arrived in Chennai and have been preparing for the upcoming challenge. The talk of the week has been the surface of the pitch on which both the teams will be playing the first test match in the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai.
In cricket, there are majorly 2 types of surfaces, a red soil surface or a black soil surface. A red soil surface provides an extra bounce, therefore assisting the fast bowlers and providing them an extra edge. These kinds of pitches are comparatively more durable than black soil pitches and do not tear out easily. On the other hand, Black soil pitches are more favourable for the spinners as these kinds of pitches tear out easily, which provides a decent amount of turn to the spinners.
Although, usually the Surface at Chepauk is more of a spin friendly surface, this time the pitch will have a red soil surface rather than the typical black soil pitch. If the pitch for the tomorrow’s match will be a red soil pitch, it might provide an extra Advantage for pacers like Nahid Rana, Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud which will get an extra bounce. The rainy weather will also assist them by providing them more swing. There is also a decent amount of grass visible on the surface, a day before the game
On the other hand, Indian batters would also prefer playing on a red soil pitch rather than on black soil pitch because many Indian batters Such as Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have also struggled on spin friendly pitches in recent times. The red soil pitch will also assist Indian Bowlers like Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Siraj and Yash Dayal. But not just pacers, spinners like Ashwin, and Jadeja can still be the key factors of India for the upcoming test match.
The pitch is currently covered because of the rainy weather in Chepauk, a day before the start of the test match. Both the team are hoping for an uninterrupted test match as they are looking to better their WTC rankings in order to make it to the WTC finals
