The test match at Ahmedabad was more a test to the viewer than the players, though the pitch offered something to the pacers during the morning sessions of the first two days. Quite honestly there was not anything that could really trouble the batsmen of both the sides. It was poor batting by the Indian top order that led to their downfall in the first innings. Welegedara bowled in the right areas but was not as dangerous as to earn four Indian top order batsman. The Sri Lankan batsmen showed why such wickets are a waste of time for the viewers. No disrespect to the island nation's batsmen but neither the pitch nor the Indian bowlers had anything at all to trouble their oppostion. Zaheer khan was the only bowler who seemed to vary his deliveries and the bouncer to Dilshan was an evidence of his experience.

One would have expected Harbhajan to have done better but when the world's leading wicket taker found it difficult to bowl well on this pitch, Bhajji can be excused I guess. The Indian curators need to respect the format and the viewers and prepare better pitches. The pitch in Adelaide during the Steve Waugh farewell series was really a great wicket because the first innings lasted nearly three days and yet the match had a result. I am not criticizing all the curators in India. With such pitches the actual challenges of test cricket vanish into thin air bringing into sight the accelerating batting and defensive bowling leaving captains to become saints, surrendering the fate of the match to the Gods. A good pitch that has something for everyone, will ensure that test cricket gets its deserved maximum number of views. Who can forget the India Australia series in 2001, when Ganguly's team India beat Steve Waugh's men. VVS Laxman and Bhajji had important roles to play in bringing down Australia's fairy tale run at test matches. Point is both the batsmen and the bowlers had something to play with.Unless the richest cricket board on the face of the planet ensures the betterment of the pitches under its control there is no way its domestic circuit will produce international players. Australia is the best team not because it has fifteen talented players but because the domestic platform is the best and they can fall back to those back up players in case their best players are injured. The recent India Australia one day series showed the Indians why the hat-trick Champion team is still the best to beat. Ten of their best players got injured barring Ponting and Hussey and yet Australia won it 4-2. The current Indian bench strength is nothing compared to the Aussies. Atleast the pitches in India should improve if the Indians are to reach the top. The Indians have been within striking distance for the past eight years and yet victory has eluded them because of the poor bench strength which is definitely the result of poor pitches.