When India’s fast-forward third Test against England in the current series ended a good two hours before time on its second day ~ the hosts going up 2-1 with the last match set to start on Thursday ~ doubts about the Motera wicket’s quality came quite naturally to be voiced. And the opinions were prediictably split in terms of nationalistic loyalties. But facts can’t really be got away from even when patriotic fervour influences ~ or colours ~ cricketing judgment. The pitch was one that, egregiously partial to spinners, restricted run-making to an extremely surprising extent, leaving England skipper Joe Root ironically to comment, once the hurly-burly was done, that those who had shown up for a crackerjack knock from Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, were obliged to settle instead for his counterpart in the visiting side helping himself to a fivescalp haul.

Which implied India’s own frailties in the briefest Test held in this land and even though some experts had already said that Motera wasn’t quite as blatantly spin-friendly as Chepauk during the second Test, the hosts’ guiding philosophy, once the first Test had been lost, was that no matter how they batted on designer tracks themselves, the visitors would do worse. India got it right too. England went into Motera with Jimmy Anderson partnering Stuart Broad in the pace department but it was Axar Patel and Ravichandran Ashwin who called the shots with their spin bowling on a strip which suited the Indian duo more palpably.

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True, Patel turned out to be especially effective when the ball didn’t turn ~ his dismissals were mostly lbws or bowled ~ but he also said that the generously lacquered, very hard pink ball had tended to skid off the wicket, leaving batsmen undone. But Root’s spectacular success with the ball is from the world of magic, which should inspire inquiries about a spin-bowling Hogwarts far away from Indian shores. Kohli’s team are now closer to the World Test Championship final but their successes, unlike on their recent trip to Australia, have been far less than authentic on home wickets that are not meant to showcase Test cricket at its best.

Pitches that don’t measure up to Test cricket’s time-honoured traditions should have no place in the game. Chennai has copped some unwelcome attention earlier in the series, hosting two matches, but it is the cricket control board which supervises pitch-making for international matches today, led by a chief who once captained India.

Well might India go on to win the second match in Motera for an eventual WTC final appearance and be triumphant at the Lord’s summit showdown too but the way they have gone about their task ~ or the spadework for it ~ in the home series could leave a lot of people quite underwhelmed.

India, amazingly, have the human resources for all conditions, but stick with old, not quite universally acclaimed ways when it comes to the crunch. World champions though must have fans the world over.