Kanpur set to provide classic Indian Test track – Curator

The Kanpur track is dry, has cracks, and it will assist the home side, as it should. But, if you listen to head groundsman Shiv Kumar, only as much as it should. There are early indications that the ball won’t turn as early or as alarmingly as it did in Nagpur and Mohali last season, when India won both Tests inside three days.

There might be some concern at the sight of the cracks three days from the start of a Test, but Shiv said the soil has deceptively good binding qualities, and that erring on the side of caution could result in a repeat of the 2004-05 Test when Andrew Hall scored 163 in a boring draw. That was the debut Test for Shiv, an electrician by formal training who decided to try his hand as a groundsman because of unemployment. He says he has learnt a lot from that 2004-05 draw.

The other extreme in Kanpur, though, appeared in 2008 when India, trailing 0-1 in the series, beat South Africa in three days on a vicious turner, which was later rated “poor” by the ICC. Shiv said that happened because of the April heat, and a repeat was not likely to happen …

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