Dryness in Chinnaswamy Pitch dries up runs on the wicket

Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru off-late has witnessed some of the greatest run-fests in recent history. As a result, it has acquired the reputation of being batsman’s paradise and bowler’s graveyard. Be it Chis Gayle’s 175 against the Pune Warriors XI or Rohit Sharma’s mammoth innings of 209 against Australia, Chinnaswamy has seen it all. Having said that, Chinnaswamy this season has witnessed some of the most low-scoring games ever, which raised a few concerns.

The pitch this season has acquired a dry nature which has made run-scoring difficult. The pitch, which had a reputation for its true bounce and ease of hitting through the line, has developed a coarse nature, thereby making run-scoring arduous.

Teams usually have scored a total of over 200 at will on this ground the last season. Teams batting second have scored around the range 180-195 at ease as well. But, it all started during the second match of the Border-Gavaskar trophy, where the batsmen battled through every run on the very ground infamous for the bowlers.

This hypothesis on the pitch transformed into a sound theory this IPL as the Royal Challenger successfully defended the below par total of 157,( according to high T20 standards set by the ground) in their first match and made life difficult for the Mumbai batsmen in the second game on this ground.

Today, Virat Kohli will resume his rivalry with his Australian counterpart Steve Smith which was initiated in February this year, but this time in coloured clothing. RCB batting and field coach Trent Woodhill also noticed and stated a change in the nature of the pitch prior to their match against the Rising Pune Supergiant. Woodhill accepted the fact that scoring 200 totals on this surface will be a challenge for the batting sides.

“Obviously they weren’t massive totals in these two matches, so some poor innings from both sides. With regard to the 200-run totals that we normally associate the Chinnaswamy track with, I think we’ve had solid batting pitches without the exceptional ones that we’re used to. It is a challenge but the way we are as a batting unit, we assess quickly but we also enjoy the pitch that we play on” as quoted as saying by Deccan Herald.

However, this change in the pitch can also be inferred as KSCA desperate effort to bring back the balance between the bat and the ball which was missing on this batsmen’s paradise. Only time will tell if the move turns out to be successful or not.