JOIN USAfter the Maharashtra Cricket Association prepared a bone dry pitch on which India suffered an embarrassing capitulation, the question on most people’s lips is what the Karnataka State Cricket Association would serve for the second Test match against Australia.
KSCA interim secretary R Sudhakar Rao allayed any concerns and said the Chinnaswamy Stadium track would be a sporting one and their intention is to see the match last all five days. “We want to give the teams and fans a very good wicket. We’ve had curator K Sriram working on it and he’s prepared a very good track.
“It should aid batting for the first couple of days. Spinners will start coming into play from the third day onwards. The spinners will get a lot more purchase from it on the fourth and fifth day. There should be appreciable bounce right through. So even the fast bowlers should enjoy bowling on this track.”
The mercury has been touching 35 degree celsius for a week now and while admitting it was a concern, Sudhakar said they’ve got it all under control. “We obviously would have preferred balmy conditions. When the weather is hot, the pitch dries up faster. But we’ve watered the square adequately and ensured it doesn’t lose it’s moisture. We are hoping for good action on all days.”
Although Chinnaswamy has had good crowd response for Test matches, it has not necessarily been a happy hunting ground for the Indians. In the 21 Tests they’ve played here, they’ve won six, lost an equal number of games and drawn nine. Against Australia, their record isn’t great, having won just once as against two losses and two draws in five encounters.
However, considering their frailties against the turning ball, exposed ruthlessly by Australia, they would be happy playing on a sporting track having achieved exceptional results on such wickets against England, who they beat 4-0.
Daily tickets
Sale of daily tickets for the match will begin from Monday, according to a KSCA release here.
Earlier, KSCA had kicked off the ticket sales with season passes covering all the five days of the game.
The daily tickets, priced from Rs 100 to Rs 2500, can be purchased across the counter at the M Chinnaswamy stadium and will also be available on ksca-cricket.com and bookmyshow.com.
The daily tickets come in two segments -- weekday tickets and weekend tickets (Saturday and Sunday) which are priced higher.
The sale will start at 10.00 am, and fans will have the option of buying either daily tickets or season tickets, the release said.