by Sanjay Manjrekar
Monday, December 10, 2001

The soil at Motera is similar to Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium. There is not too much clay content, which is why a fair amount of grass is required to bind the soil together. If Nadeem Memon, another curator who believes in preparing sporting wickets, is allowed to do that, the pitch should afford bounce throughout the five days. If the grass is shaved off though, the wicket will dust up and provide turn.

But another feature of this track, which should gladden English hearts, is that the bounce remains true. Also, it gets progressively slower, so the fourth and fifth days could be profitable for the batsmen - the second innings might see higher scores than the first.

In fact, in the last Test played here, against New Zealand in 1999-2000, the grass was shaved off and the wicket was rolled extensively, so that it remained a featherbed throughout the five days. New Zealand needed to bat out the last day to save the Test and did so quite comfortably, losing just two wickets in 95 overs. Interestingly, the spin duo in that match were Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh. If a similar surface is rolled out again, England's batsmen might well put enough runs on the board to save the game.

But for that to happen, Nasser Hussain must add an extra batsman to the line-up, probably Michael Vaughan for Andy Flintoff or Craig White. Both the allrounders failed with the bat, and the manner of their dismissals didn't inspire much confidence for the remaining matches. Either Flintoff or White at No. 6 makes the batting look very thin, and reinforcements in that area are certainly called for.

The Indians, on the other hand, look a champion side at home. The team will be further strengthened by the return of Virender Sehwag and Javagal Srinath, and should be very relaxed and confident taking the field on Tuesday.

Srinath bowled one of his most devasting spells here, taking 6 for 21 as South Africa were bowled out for 105, chasing 170 for victory. With Tinu Yohannan performing so impressively at Mohali, India would almost certainly go in with two seamers and Harbhajan and Kumble. That would mean twelfth-man duties again for the other offspinner, Sarandeep Singh.

Personally, I would love to see Sarandeep bowl in tandem with Harbhajan. It would be fascinating to compare their styles and talent. However, for that to happen, a seamer or an extra batsman would have to be dropped - neither of which seems likely.

The captain winning the toss would definitely want to make first use of the strip, and if it's well rolled without too much grass, England might fancy their chances of being competitive in this match.

Sanjay Manjrekar, mainstay of the Indian batting in the late '80s and early '90s, was talking to S Rajesh.

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