‘Revenge is best left uncooked’
South Africans wouldn’t be human if they didn’t want to exact revenge for the sometimes shocking surfaces they had to play on in India in 2015.
They will get the chance to reciprocate when Virat Kohli’s team tour in the new year, and the Sunday Times understands the instruction has gone out to Newlands — where the test series starts on January 5 — Centurion and the Wanderers to ensure the visitors know they’re playing on regte, egte South African surfaces.
But Russell Domingo, who as South Africa’s coach in 2015 saw for himself how India pushed conditions already favourable to them past of fairness, didn’t think it would be wise to tilt the balance too far.
“I can’t see that happening,” Domingo said. “The greener you make the wickets the closer you bring the teams together.”
And, at home, the South Africans should be well ahead of India — despite that the latter have cemented their No 1 ranking by reeling off eight consecutive test series victories.
The fine print is that all of those rubbers, bar one, were played in India. The exception was hosted next door in Sri Lanka.
Kohli is concerned enough about what lay ahead in South Africa to have asked for greener pitches to be prepared for India’s current home series against Sri Lanka.
But, said the Times of India on Friday, the suits doubted that tactic would be effective.
“It is easy to leave a bit of grass, alter the watering process and primarily use light rollers as is the norm these days, but that’s all we can do in such short time,” the paper quoted “a top BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] source” as saying.
“However, to successfully provide England-like or South Africa-like pitches, the conditions need to be amenable too; like the weather, the soil, the elevation from sea level.”
Along with suggesting that revenge was a dish better not served, Domingo also wondered why it needed to be cooked at all when the raw ingredients should satisfy any hunger to strike back.
“They’re playing away from coastal conditions, aside from Cape Town, on pitches that should offer pace and bounce,” he said.
“Often it’s the bounce that will unravel subcontinent sides. So pitches with pace and bounce — they don’t need to have too much lateral movement — and that are nice and hard will work in South Africa’s favour.”
Domingo was also mindful to consider the other side of the equation.
“You probably want just a good cricket wicket because India also have some quality bowlers in Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav. They’ve got a really good pace attack at the moment.”
Of course, South Africa do too. So, like much else about cricket, it’s up to the groundsmen to juggle the pros and cones.