Calcutta: Sri Lanka’s senior-most pro Sanath Jayasuriya, who completed 20 years as an international cricketer on Saturday, felt that the Kotla pitch had “become dangerous.”
“I had to take guard on the second ball itself and it definitely wasn’t the best wicket to bat on... The bounce was too uncertain... Gradually, it got worse and the surface had become dangerous,” Jayasuriya told The Telegraph, on Sunday evening.
The 40-year-old added: “I took blows on my helmet, shoulder, knuckles... Batting was tough, but I had to stay put... Actually, because of the situation, my job was to just remain there...”
After doing the hard work for 94 minutes, Jayasuriya fell leg before, not to a quick, but to Harbhajan Singh.
He scored 31, the highest. The abandonment came seven overs later.
In an unusual coincidence, of the 22 players for the day, Jayasuriya alone featured in the abandonment in Indore, 12 years ago.
Sure, the Kotla pitch wasn’t fit for play, but the fact still is that today’s batsmen grow up in a somewhat soft environment, with every kind of protective gear available on the shelves. So, the alarm bells probably ring louder the moment the wicket does something out of the ordinary.
It used to be very different when, for example, Brian Close (1976) and Mohinder Amarnath (1983) stood up to the West Indies quicks...
(Source)
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