During India’s defeat of England in Vizag last week, former BCCI president and captain Sourav Ganguly declared that the coastal city’s equitable pitch had made a point about the fortunes of the team.

Noting the quality of quick bowlers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj, among others, Ganguly asked: “I wonder why do we need to prepare turning tracks in India ... my conviction of playing on good wickets keeps getting stronger every game.”

India’s captain Rohit Sharma with Jasprit Bumrah.Credit: AP

India’s home Tests have, in recent times, become synonymous with sharp spin and low bounce. One English journalist, at his passport check before this series, was greeted with two words: “Ravindra Jadeja.” But the victory in Vizag provided a reminder that if anything, India are more dangerous on pitches with something for everyone. Australia, due to host India next summer, take note.

Ganguly’s social media missive was cause for mirth in many quarters. After all, he had infamously withdrawn from the India team that faced Australia on one such “good wicket” in Nagpur in 2004. That week, the team led by Adam Gilchrist took advantage of an evenly grassed surface to win the Test and series by a huge margin. Australia have not won a series in India since.

That pitch had been the product of BCCI infighting. The local association was on the other side of a bitter board election in which Bengal’s Jagmohan Dalmiya was re-elected – Ganguly, as discussed this week, is known as the “Prince of Kolkata”.

It was a cause of discussion in the days before that 2004 Nagpur game, as Ganguly admitted he had tried and failed to get the curator to shave grass off the strip.

“We’re playing at home, where our main strength is spin. But this kind of wicket takes that advantage away from us,” Ganguly had said, ruefully. “I asked the groundsman a few days ago for the grass to be removed but he’s not done much. The curator here is the man in charge and he has his own ideas.”

At the end of the match, the umpire David Shepherd remarked to India’s coach, John Wright, that it played as though the visiting Australians “had prepared it for themselves”.