Sourav Ganguly re-ignites pitch debate, explains why India's batting quality has dropped amid 2nd IND vs ENG Test

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Jasprit Bumrah's exceptional afternoon spell on the second day of the second Test against England in Visakhapatnam on Saturday made former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly to advocate for sporting pitches rather than preparing rank turners at home.

Jasprit Bumrah registered his best figures in India by picking six wickets for 45 runs to wrap up England's first innings at 253, and help India take a 143-run first innings lead.

In an exceptional display of reverse-swing bowling, Bumrah homed in on Ollie Pope's stumps with a laser-guided yorker to dismiss the England batter for 23 off 55 balls, earning it a separate fan base altogether. It wasn't entirely surprising then to see Ganguly, a lifelong supporter of pace bowling and sporting tracks, airing his views in favour of decks that keeps bowlers of all genres in the game, rather than just spinners.

"When I see Bumrah, Shami, Siraj, Mukesh bowl, I wonder why we need to prepare turning tracks in India…my conviction of playing on good wickets keeps getting stronger every game. They will get 20 wickets on any surface with Ashwin, Jadeja, Kuldeep and Axar (for support),” Ganguly wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) account.

The former BCCI chief had also expressed a similar view during India's home series against Australia early last year, particularly after the Indore pitch earned “poor” rating from the ICC.

“Great to see Ashwin bowl so well on a good pitch… class will always show…Hopefully, this will be a good Test match…a good opportunity for Indian batsmen after some tuff wickets to bat on, in this series,” Ganguly had tweeted during the Ahmedabad Test after senior spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged six wickets.

Here too, Ganguly hinted that the overall batting quality in the longer format has dropped in the last few years because of preparing pitches with quick results in mind.

"Batting quality dropping because of pitches in the last 6 to 7 years at home…good wickets are a must…India will still win over 5 days,” said Ganguly.