India vs Australia Hyderabad test: Freakish turn unlikely
Drawing parallels between last year's Test at Mumbai and the present one at Hyderabad will be like comparing apples to oranges.
It is as foolhardy as saying that the conventionally prepared spin-friendly pitch laid down for the second Test here is similar to the first Test's freakish turning track. In case that ugly brownish carpet was rolled up, air-lifted and stretched out next to the 22-yard strip prepared at Hyderabad, they won't look like those 'spot the difference' images with minute, hidden variations. They will look strikingly dissimilar. This one is more white than brown and has been evenly watered and rolled. It is the kind of track where a spinner who banks more on the natural variation provided by the pitch will have to wait longer to get purchase. This is an Ojha kind of wicket and not a track that is expected to suit Ravindra Jadeja.
During the England series last year, Sourav Ganguly, from the commentary box, expressed his fondness for Ojha. Finally, a left-arm spinner had moved the former Indian skipper. "Ojha is a bowler who can take wickets even on a good wicket," he had said. It remains to be seen if this is a 'good' track but it certainly is better than the one at Chennai.
Old timers at this new Test venue say that spinners will need to tweak the ball harder to get things moving. That's bad news for Jadeja, who is flatter and quicker in the air. As for Harbhajan, he once
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