Green pitch offers intrigue as Saurashtra takes on Gujarat in Ranji quarters

Niranjan Shah Stadium pitch surprises with grass cover, setting up a balanced battle between batters, pacers, and spinners.

The pitches at the Niranjan Shah Stadium, located near the Rajkot-Jamnagar highway, usually behave in one of two ways. There are either raging turners that allow spinners to make merry. Or there are featherbeds that facilitate tedious run-fests.

On Friday, however, it was a playing surface with an even covering of grass that greeted Saurashtra and Gujarat ahead of their Ranji Trophy quarterfinal. Surprising enough for Gujarat coach Ramesh Powar to casually quip to one of the Saurashtra players during a practice session that he had never seen so much grass on a pitch in Rajkot.

When Saurashtra coach Niraj Odedra was asked about Powar’s reading, he nodded in agreement. “Even we are surprised to see that much grass. I agree with Ramesh. I have not seen so much grass here in Rajkot. But with a neutral curator there, let’s just say it will be a true pitch. It may help batters and pacers on the first couple of days and from the third day onwards, there will be a little bit of assistance for the spinners as well,” Odedra remarked after Saurashtra’s practice session.

If some of the grass is shaved off before the toss on Saturday morning for the spinners to have a greater say from day one, neither team will be complaining. Although Ravindra Jadeja isn’t available for Saurashtra, which is led by left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat, the host has an armoury of spin bowlers in Dharmendrasinh Jadeja, Sammar Gajjar, Yuvrajsinh Dodiya and Parth Bhut to choose from. For Gujarat, besides the presence of left-arm spinner Siddharth Desai, who took nine wickets in an innings against Uttarakhand recently, the availability of leggie Ravi Bishnoi following his involvement in India’s T20I series victory over England is a boost.

“Bishnoi has bowled pretty well whenever he has played for us,” Gujarat skipper Chintan Gaja said. “Yes, both teams have very good spinners. But I think fast bowlers will be dominating this match.”