By Abhishek Roy, IANS
Gwalior : Toss will not be a factor for the fourth One-Day International to be played between India and Pakistan here Thursday, according to the chief curator of the ground who foresees a high-scoring encounter.
“It is a good batting track and toss will not be a factor because the team batting second won’t face any problem while chasing the score. The ball will come nicely to the bat and the bounce will be of waist height,” Samundar Singh Chauhan said Tuesday, while giving finishing touches to the pitch at the Captain Roop Singh Stadium for the day-and-night encounter.
“The only problem will be the dew because it is the onset of the winter season here. Right after 5.30 p.m. dew starts gathering on the grass, but we will be using a special spray that was also used for the Mohali ODI (last Thursday).
“The spray won’t allow the dew to settle on the grass blades. And the dew will precipitate down to the root of the grass,” said Chauhan, who is a farmer by profession.
He added that there was a tinge on grass on the track, but he won’t water the track anymore to dry out the grass by the time the match starts.
“We don’t want any side movements off the track. The presence of grass would have helped the bowlers to extract side movements. But we want the match to be high scoring. And by the time the match starts the grass will dry out,” Chauhan said.
He added that a new dressing was given to the track in July. “This is the first international match to be played on this track after we gave it a dressing in July. Since then, two domestic matches have been played here, which were high scoring.
“In one match between Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in the C.K. Nayudu Trophy 1,200 runs were scored in four days. So, I am hopeful that Thursday’s match will also produce runs in excess of 600,” he said.