Mumbai track right up the Nagpur street

MUMBAI: Cadavers of eighteen wickets lay at the Wankhede Stadium pitch on Thursday, day two of the fourth Test between India and Australia. Was it good bowling, bad batting or a mean ‘strip'' tease?
Polly Umrigar, pitch curator and former India captain, did not wish to talk about the wicket, a subject back in focus after the controversy over the Nagpur track. But M S Rao, Umrigar''s assistant, said the devil lay in the batting.
"Did you see the quality of batsmanship?" Rao asked. "If the pitch was so bad, how did Rahul Dravid and Damien Martyn play long innings? The ball is spinning, no doubt, but the surface is not uneven. We have been preparing this track since October 6."
Dilip Vengsarkar, Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) vice-president and ex-India skipper, also blamed the batsmen for their quick goodbyes. "The wicket had pace and bounce, but it also offered batsmen scope to play strokes, off front foot as well as back. But they didn''t apply themselves," Vengsarkar said. "Where the rest of the match goes, the turn will remain but the bounce will be lesser."
Some felt otherwise. "Our score of 203 was a good effort on this wicket," said Australian pace bowler Jason Gillespie, who gashed the Indian batting line-up with a 4-29 burst, Sachin Tendulkar and V V S Laxman being among his victims. "It was an interesting pitch."
Asked to explain what he meant by ‘interesting'', Gillespie said: "It was interesting, let''s leave it at that."
Former India captain Ajit Wadekar said: "It wasn''t a Test pitch. It was spinning, bouncing, it was doing everything. This is a five-day game. They don''t have to finish it in three."
Left-arm spinner Murali Karthik said the 22 yards of contention provided spin and grip. "If we score around 170, we have a decent chance of winning the Test," he said. Asked what he considered an ideal Test wicket, the 28-year-old replied: "This debate will never end. There is nothing like an ideal Test match wicket. Because whether it seams or turns, people always find a problem."