The pitch of a cricket game is the 22-yard main strip . The type of pitch determines the type of game it is going to be. Each country has its own type of pitches. There are different types of pitches and each pitch depends on the climate of the location.

Dusty and hard pitches favor the spin bowling and hence the batsmen of sub-continent find it easier to bat in such conditions. This is the main reason why pitches in India are flat and help spinners and our Indian batsmen are very good players of spin.

If the pitch is made such a way that it can develop cracks, then also this will support the spinners very nicely. The manner in which a pitch behaves depends on the way it is prepared. The person who prepares the pitch is called the ‘curator’.

When a pitch has grass on it, the ball is bound to swing and hence the fast bowlers will find a good amount of help from such tracks. The grass will attract moisture which is needed for swing bowling. Thus green pitches always favor swing bowling/fast bowling as the ball will deviate off the pitch and in the air as well due to the cool climate where such pitches are found. Such pitches can be found in Australia, England, South Africa, and New Zealand. Some of the grounds with the fearsome fast pitches are the WACA Perth, The MCG, Durban, Johannesburg, Trent Bridge, etc.

Generally, in a test match in the sub-continent, after the 3rd day, the cracks on a pitch generally widen due to wear and tear which is an absolute nightmare for batsmen as it is very difficult to play spin on such a track. That’s the reason why many foreign teams tend to lose when the tour India, Sri Lanka, etc. For this reason, the sub-continent teams have always produced quality spinners.

If a pitch has no grass, no cracks then such are a pitch is treated for the batsmen and nightmare for the bowlers. Such a pitch is called a flat pitch. Such pitches produce high-scoring matches.

In India and other sub-continent countries, these days the pitch is made generally flat for limited-overs cricket. The best example is the Cricket World Cup 2011. Almost all the matches were high scoring and scores of 300 were just par. Also, scores in the IPL are generally much higher than in other T20 tournaments around the world.

This is perhaps the reason why our team’s batting is failing when they play overseas. After playing on flat batting tracks in India they are not able to adjust to the fast & hostile pitches overseas.

Another thing to note is that if the weather is overcast or if it rained the night before a match, then the pitch will suit the bowlers because the moisture on the pitch helps the ball to swing. And later during the match when the sun comes out, the moisture evaporates and it becomes good for batting.

There is something called ‘home advantage’ in cricket. This is nothing but the pitching advantage. Each country prepares the pitch the way it wants so as to suit the home team.

Thus, the pitch can be considered as the soul of cricket.