Karnail pitch unfit for Ranji game: Jadhav

NEW DELHI: On a day when 16 wickets fell during the Ranji Trophy tie between Jharkhand and Maharashtra at the Karnail Singh Stadium, the question of sporting tracks was bound to arise.
While some batsmen played rash shots to throw their wickets away, the nature of the pitch -­ with its uneven bounce -­ became the talking point among both the teams.
Maharashtra skipper Kedar Jadhav, whose side could score only 188 in their second innings, managing a lead of 92 after Jharkhand were bowled out for 306 in the morning, said he wouldn't like to see such a track in the future."If a match gets over in close to three days, it is not a good sign for cricket. It has to be a good quality pitch where you get four days of competitive cricket. The result does not matter. The match has to last for four days. That is how the quality of cricket in general will rise," Jadhav told TOI on Saturday.
"This wicket is just not good to bat on. If our lead was around 150-200, it could have been our game," added Jadhav, who scored an impressive 56, his second half-century of the match, with the help of 10 boundaries.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand skipper Varun Aaron, who troubled the Maharashtra batsmen with his swing, pace and bounce on Saturday, had a different take. "We maintained the ball really well and were reversing it. It is a very sporting wicket. Both the teams' spinners did well. Even the fast bowlers picked up wickets. We even saw Kaushal Singh score a century. It is definitely a good wicket."
"Post tea, the pitch just got difficult to bat on. Before that, it was a good batting track."
On 564 at stumps, Jharkhand require another 37 runs to win their first game of the season.