Even in change, certain things remain constant in Indian cricket. Like the Indian captain asking for grass to be removed from the playing surface, even if the grass is brown, rolled into the surface and hardly threatening!

Indian captains’ obsession with even the slightest tinge of green on the pitch is well documented. The ‘doctoring’ of pitches began in the early ‘90s as Mohammad Azharuddin, armed with three quality spinners, set a blazing trail as the trend-setting captain on ‘dustbowls.’

The gradual improvement in the quality of pitches arose more out of necessity as India struggled to find a support act for the classy Anil Kumble, dust bowls making way for traditional slow, low pitches.

The first hint of grass, however, was enough to drive Sourav Ganguly to distraction. The Kolkatan, India’s most successful skipper, believed that home advantage was meant to be exploited, especially when Kumble found a complementary spin twin in Harbhajan Singh.

Rahul Dravid didn’t care much for the appearance of the track because he believed the conditions were same for both teams, and that as an international cricketer, you must acquit yourself well on all tracks, in all countries.

These are very very early days in Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s captaincy. The 26-year-old will be leading India out in a one-day international for the first time on Saturday, and while he appeared impressed by the Chinnaswamy stadium deck at first glance, he seemed to develop second thoughts after a while.

There grass that adorned the track was more brown than green, essentially there to bind the surface and no more than three millimetres in height. It will provide no seam movement, and even were it to, Dhoni will admit that his pace attack is better suited to exploit the assistance than an under-strength Aussie attack.

Be that as it may, Dhoni’s concerns led to the involvement in discussions with curator Narayan Raju and two experts from New Zealand helping in the preparation of the track of new Karnataka State Cricket Association president Srikantadatta Narasimharaja Wadiyar. What came out of those discussions isn’t totally clear, though it will come as no surprise if instructions were passed on to Raju’s team to remove some of the grass.

Whether even a part of the grass has been shaved off will not be known until the covers are removed on match-day.  If it is, Ivan Lendl might approve of the Indian approach to grass. After all, didn’t the man who never managed a Wimbledon crown once say that grass was only for cows!