The somewhat difficult batting pitches at Mumbai’s Wankhede and Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium have been a topic of discussion, but India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel sympathized with the curator, saying he has provided pitches to the best of his ability. In Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Indian batsmen had to struggle to increase the run rate. There was moisture present in one pitch, while on the other pitch the ball was coming with a slight halt. Due to this, it was not easy for the batsmen to play strokes.
Indian batsmen are facing problems
Morkel said, ‘Preparing a pitch with more than 200 runs in the last time of the season is no less than a challenge for the curator. He should get credit for this. Tilak Verma, who bats aggressively on these pitches, found it difficult to find his rhythm in the initial matches, while Suryakumar Yadav also took time in the beginning. Ahead of India’s Super-8 clash with South Africa, Morkel said the audience expects high-scoring matches. In such a situation, there is a lot of pressure on the curators. They work hard to give us the best pitch possible.
Morkel said – it is difficult to predict the ideal pitch
According to Morkel, it is very difficult to predict the ideal pitch. He said, even today it is difficult to decide how the pitch will play. We guess there is moisture, it looks dry, the ball may stop or skid, but it is not easy to predict correctly. Therefore, it is important to have such players who can understand the situations quickly. Morkel did not give a direct answer to the question of the pitches becoming difficult to bat on due to high usage during the domestic season. He said, so far in this tournament, we have maintained good coordination with both batting and bowling as per the conditions. Apart from the first match, there is an opportunity to learn in the remaining matches. The first match was not a 200-plus pitch, probably around a 170-run surface, and we were more aggressive in the beginning. But lessons are learned from every match, this is the beauty of this game.