MS Dhoni bats for turning tracks in India

BANGALORE: It was an innocent questionbut one that was met with total incredulity by Indian skipper Mahendra SinghDhoni. Will you play three spinners, he was asked on Thursday in the pre-matchpress conference. Dhoni doesn't scream often but the quick retort was telling:"Have you seen the wicket?"This Chinnaswamy Stadium track, in his estimation, is not a typical Indian wicket. Who knows, there may be a case to play three seamers instead.Against a side like New Zealand, Indiacertainly do not need a tailor-made pitch. Dhoni, however, later said pitches inIndia were increasingly failing to live up to their 'subcontinental'nature."Playing in England and Australia, we face different conditions. And that's why when we talk about world cricket, each place is special for its own reasons," said Dhoni making a case for turning tracks for all matches in India. In fact, he readily admitted that his side hadput in such a specific request for Tests in India."We are expectingturning tracks but the last wicket was not a turning track. We had put in arequest but whatever wickets are provided, we have to play on them. But thesubcontinent's speciality is spin and I think we should stick to it."As long as a pitch is prepared to suit the home team, no one canhave a cause for complaint. Only a deliberately under-prepared surface should bediscouraged. After all, when India plays outside the subcontinent, they areforced by the nature of the pitch to play a lone spinner. In India,the least the visiting teams can be expected to do is play two spinners. If theydon't have enough quality, can the Indians be blamed?