Forget pitch doctoring, look for cure!

The mouthwatering India versus Australia Test series featured a lot of chatter about selection and pitch doctoring in the lead upThe noise was exactly that in the case of the pitch as not unexpectedly it turned out to be nothing more than a fairly typical first day Indian redsoil wicket It was by no means impossible to play on as Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith showed but the Australian team failed to post a testing first innings totalThe state of the pitch was put into perspective by the Indian captain Rohit Sharma He played a masterful innings which displayed confidence in his own defence his wide stroke range on a turningmdashbut not impossible pitchmdashand his iron clad disciplineRohitrsquos confidence in his defence was crucial If a player doesnrsquot trust his defence on Indian pitches he can easily be panicked into doing something that hersquos not capable of and this ends up in an embarrassing dismissalNot only did Rohit reveal a wide range of shots he also frustrated the Australian bowlers with the way he only played them when the time was right Rohit showed all players home and touring how to play on Indian pitches and his example was flawlessly followed by the much improved Ravindra JadejaAlso Read A case for embracing failuresRohit opening a great moveThe move to open in Test cricket saved Rohitrsquos career He looked like wasting his enormous skill down the order but batting above Virat Kohli has stopped Rohit being overawed by the exskipperrsquos popularity However captaincy has also played a big part in Rohitrsquos revival as the discipline required to lead a team has added another level to his battingFor his part Jadeja displayed the improvement in his game in both batting and bowling Hersquos always had talent but now he also has the belief To see the clever tweaks hersquos made in both skills tells you that Jadeja has a high cricket intelligenceOn the subject of pitches in India the first thing a touring player has to realise is that hersquoll face a diet of spin However he should also understand that the quicker bowlers are not without skill If a visiting player thinks anything else he is badly misinformedThe selections in this match were a mixture of brave choices and one that was a head scratcher The omission of Travis Head despite his troubles against good spinners was difficult to fathomThe choice of offspinner Todd Murphy in his first Test after only seven firstclass games was brave Nevertheless it also displayed great faith in Murphyrsquos skill levelMurphy was economical but also claimed wickets and he was unafraid to bowl a legstump line to contain the Indian batsmen The problem was Australiarsquos lack of first innings runs meant the bowlers had to perform the most difficult of tasksmdashtaking wickets while also containing the batsmenIn the end Australiarsquos choice to favour economy over the need to claim wickets quickly took its toll and India capitalised on bowlers tiring from a heavy work loadThe first Test has exposed Australiarsquos weakness against good spin bowling on turning pitches How they reactmdashif they can ensure this doesnrsquot mean their mental capacity to cope in Indiamdashit will keep them in the series If they waver they are in big troubleIgnore pitch talkThe subject of pitch doctoring is nothing new in the media Players need to ignore this little game or else it has a debilitating effect on the visiting teamFar too much emphasis is put on how pitches are going to play and on doctoring Itrsquos worth remembering that both teams have to play on the same pitchThe reality is that India have developed into a very strong side allround the world with a special feel for how to win at home If Australia which has a weakness against spin in India donrsquot adapt to conditions quickly they are going suffer the same fate that has befallen other visiting sides