There has been a lot of talk about the pitch during this India-South Africa series. And now — though the second Test is just two days old — the nature of the playing surface during the final game in Kanpur has already become a topic of discussion inside the Indian camp.Sources in the dressing room said that skipper Anil Kumble, who wasn’t given the kind of track he wanted for the second Test, had on Thursday asked one of his Uttar Pradesh players to call up the Kanpur groundsmen and find out about the pitch there. He wanted details about the bounce, the grass and the turn. No official word has gone from the team management to the curator about the exact nature of wicket they want.With India staring at defeat in this Test, Kumble is eager to ensure that the wicket in Kanpur — where matches usually end in draws — is the kind that will yield a result.No clues as of nowThough hue and cry has been raised about why India weren’t allowed to exploit home advantage on a spinning track, the Uttar Pradesh Cricket Association (UPCA) and the BCCI have not yet got into action regarding preparation of the Kanpur pitch. Daljeet Singh, the chairman of the board’s pitches committee, and its Central Zone representative Kishore Pradhan have not reached Kanpur yet to oversee preparations. Pradhan, incidentally, was the curator who had prepared that 2004 green-top against Australia that handed a clear advantage to their seamers.Meanwhile, the Green Park groundsmen are going ahead with making what they say will be a “sporting” wicket — exactly the term used by Ahmedabad curator Dhiraj Prasanna before the start of the the second Test. That one hasn’t turned out too well for India.The team for Kanpur will be picked on April 7.
