The mystery of the Pune pitch

[Torrent Disney]

In first-class cricket, it's one of the flattest in the country. Thirty-six Indian grounds have hosted at least 10 first-class games since the start of the 2011-12 season, when the MCA Stadium made its debut. Of those 36 grounds, only two have a higher runs-per-wickets figure than Pune's 35.82.

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In 26 first-class games here, there have been ten individual scores of 150 or more, two triple-hundreds and three other doubles. Thirteen of the 26 games have ended in draws.

ODIs here have largely been high-scoring too, with three out of four matches producing first-innings totals of above 280.

"When the covers came off, it wasn't a straightforward task to distinguish the pitch from the square surrounding it. It was green, and uniformly so. But soon enough, the groundstaff began taking grass off"

When a ground hosts a Test match, however, it can change character dramatically. Pune's debut Test, in 2017, ended in less than three days, with India scoring 105 and 107 and the pitch ending up with a "poor" rating.

Two days before Pune's second Test, therefore, everyone wanted to talk to Pandurang Salgaoncar, the curator. But Salgaoncar wouldn't talk to anyone.