IND vs ENG: ‘It was a bad pitch, period,’ says Motera ground's veteran curator

The pitch at the Narendra Modi Stadium where the third India v England pink ball Test concluded inside two days has been termed ldquobadrdquo by the Motera groundrsquos longestserving curator Dhiraj ParsanaExTest spinner Parsana who served as curator at Motera for 36 years from 1982 to 2018 and was also BCCIrsquos West Zone curator from 1997 to 2018 was blunt in his pitch assessment ldquoIt was a bad pitch Periodrdquo Parsana told midday during a chat on MondayldquoOn an ideal Test pitch the match should last between three to five days If I were the curator here I would have provided home advantage to the home team but I would have also ensured the match lasted at least three to four days It was not a dangerous pitch but yes the odd ball turned viciously and sometimes there was a bit of a jump in the bounce So it cannot be reported as a dangerous pitch because it didnrsquot have any awkward bounce that could have injured a playerrdquo noted Parsana who played two Tests in 1979 and represented Gujarat Saurashtra and Railways in 93 firstclass matchesParsana not invitedThe Motera pitch is Parsanarsquos baby as he was instrumental in curating it when the first Test match was played here in 1983 between India and West Indies He watched the last Test on television as there was no invitation from the Gujarat Cricket Association ldquoI donrsquot know whether I would have gone in these COVID19 times but I would have loved to be invited as a former cricketer and curator Had it been Mumbai I am sure every former cricketer would be invited by the state association Here they seem to forget usrdquo remarked the 73yearold former player who played for Mafatlal Sports Club in Mumbai during the 1970s and 1980sDhiraj ParsanaThe Test was the shortest on Indian soil with only 842 balls being bowled Out of the 30 wickets that fell in the third Test 28 went to spinners and for most of those dismissals the ball went straight or skid through ldquoThat could be due to the shine of the pink ball The pitch too had some shine So the moment the ball lands on the shiny part it would skid For example on glossy floor tiles the ball will always skid Had there been dew the movement would have been restrictedrdquo said ParsanaldquoI was surprised by Sunil Gavaskarrsquos comments on commentary He praised this pitch which means the commentators media have accepted that itrsquos okay to have a Test match lasting just two days In earlier times this wouldnrsquot have been accepted But since the last few years the trend has changed and it is accepted worldwide that Test matches can end in two or three daysrdquo he addedWTC qualification at stakeThe third Test was crucial for both India and England as far as their World Test Championships WTC qualification was concerned However Indiarsquos win put England out of contention to make it to the final Now all India have to do is draw the fourth Test here to play the summit clash against New Zealand at Lordrsquos later this yearParsana believed curators will come under tremendous pressure to exploit home advantage now that the Test matches are played to earn points to qualify for the WTC title ldquoThere is no denying that every team take home advantage The pressure on curators will increase because there is a title to be won We have provided home advantage to our Indian team but we ensured that the contest was fair even if the demand was for a rank turner It is always going to spin in India and be pacy abroad But how the curator works around these factors is their artrdquo he concluded