NEW NORMAL IN 'TESTING' TIMES

Indian think tank has gone away from looking at batters' numbers because of challenging wickets

- SWAROOP SWAMINATHAN

IN film, there's something called the Bechdel test. Broadly, it is a measure of representation of women. You pass it, then its women have been well represented. In terms of Indian cricket, there ought to be a test on the pitch. You go an entire press conference without mentioning it, you pass it. Perhaps, one can call it the Indore test after what happened in the third game where the hosts were shot out on an undercooked wicket.

There was no danger of the Indore test being passed on Tuesday. A few minutes into coach Rahul Dravid's press conference, he was also expressing his frustration on there being too much talk apropos pitches, echoing captain Rohit Sharma's sentiments from the last match. "It (the strip to be used for the fourth Test) looks okay to me and I think whatever the wicket is, honestly, it doesn't matter. There's just a lot of talk about pitches all the time. It's the same for both teams. It is more challenging for the bowler at times. It is more challenging for batsmen at times. Wickets are like that. Whatever it is, we have to learn to play on them, we have to learn to adjust."