Placid tracks during 'A' Tour is South African ploy to foil Indian plans

When the BCCI  announced that the India A team would be touring South Africa for a tri-series involving the A sides of the hosts and Australia, there was plenty of cheer in the India cricket community.

India A's tour of South Africa was deemed to be more of a preparation for the forthcoming tour of the senior team in the tough and bouncy conditions. However, it appears like the 

Cheteshwar Pujara-led side is having it easy.

A brief look at the scores in the recently concluded tri-series and one could be excused for thinking that the matches were being played in the subcontinent.

Of the total seven games played in the tri-series, a mammoth 4090 runs were scored by all the three teams combined. That translates into a colossal 292.14 runs per innings. A flat pitch with true bounce and short boundaries resulted in seven hundreds being scored, including Shikhar Dhawan's jaw-dropping 248 against South Africa A. Ironically, it was the final that turned out to be a damp squib and the lowest scoring game of the series, which India A managed to win by 50 runs against Australia A.

The story was not too different when India A played their first unofficial 'Test' at Olympia Park, Rustenburg on August 17^th. After posting an impressive 582 in the first innings with Pujara, Sharma and Raina slamming centuries, Indian quicks-born and brought up on flat decks were quick to dismantle the Proteas to hand visitors a thumping innings and 13-run win.

With the second Test currently underway in batsman-friendly Pretoria, where the home team are without the services of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Marchant de Lange, the result seems to be a foregone conclusion.

When asked if the performances here could be a red herring for the senior team ahead of their tour in December, India A's coach Lalchand Rajput was frank in his assessment when he said " We expected a lot of bounce and seam movement. What we have got here though is a complete paata (belter) wicket. It's been a surprise. But conditions are not in our control."

Not someone to be misled by the prevailing conditions, Cheteshwar Pujara was quick to add "These wickets are quite flat out here at the moment and when we come in December, the conditions will be hugely different and we are aware about it. It's about getting used to the conditions, not the wickets only but the weather and other aspects of this game."

In this context of flat tracks, while it's difficult to be excited about some of the batting performances, it is pertinent to mention that all the Indian batsman have been among runs.

For the bowlers, this could yet turn out to be a good lesson. They might not have got the pitches they anticipated but at least they know what areas they have to work on.

They were slaughtered throughout the tournament but somehow, the Indians led by Mohammad Shami managed to produce an inspiring performance to help India A win the final. Ishwar Pandey's hard work finally paid dividends, when the young pacer decimated the Proteas line-up with a scintillating 7-wicket haul in the first Test, helping India A notch up a comprehensive victory.

To some this may seem as a deliberate ploy on part of Cricket South Africa to negate any advantages to the visiting Indian side comprising members of the senior team and fringe players. But when one takes into account the stakes involved-The coveted No. 1 Test ranking, the famous adage 'All's fair in love and war' seems totally apt.