India hunt down 406 as bat dominates ball in Guwahati

India etched their name into the record books with a staggering chase of 406 against West Indies in the Guwahati ODI — the second-biggest target ever successfully hunted down in one-day international history. But even as the batters celebrated, the post-match conversation swiftly turned to a familiar, uncomfortable theme: the growing mismatch between bat and ball.

Head coach Gautam Gambhir was among the first to voice his unease. Speaking to the host broadcasters, he pulled no punches: "It's not cricket, it's batting."

The sentiment was echoed by India's batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, who was delighted with the way Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma dismantled the chase but conceded that the bowlers had been left with little to work with.

"There was not a lot for the bowlers," Kotak said in the post-match press conference. "We wish that it is equally balanced. Like I said, maybe 300 runs wicket and other team have to fight hard to get that 300, 320 (is ideal). The outfield is quick. 20, 30, 40 runs go there. Particularly in today's game, yes, you do feel for the bowlers."

Kotak felt India could have restricted West Indies by 30-40 runs, but stopped short of criticising the pitch itself.

A surface with no answers for spin or pace

Five batters across both sides scored centuries — including a double — as India cruised home on a surface that appeared placid and offered no real assistance to either spin or pace. Remarkably, there was close to no dew in the second innings, the factor that usually hampers bowling under lights, yet the bowlers still found no foothold.

Kotak admitted the ball had turned slightly in the first ODI at Trivandrum, a contest that also produced a near-600-run aggregate, but said the Guwahati wicket was flatter still, even if the ball held up a touch in the afternoon.

Ravi Rampaul, the West Indies bowling coach, was even blunter about the challenges posed by such surfaces.

"Flat pitches are everywhere now. This is flatter, more for batting, because it allows nothing for the spinners, nothing for the fast bowlers," Rampaul said. "Obviously whoever scores more runs wins the game, and it's tough for bowlers coming into these conditions and coming out without any set of wickets."

Kotak defends curators, warns against 'bad wickets'

With India set to tour New Zealand before returning home for ODI series against Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe across December and January, Kotak was asked whether such featherbed conditions give Indian batters a false sense of security ahead of a World Cup in Africa. He was confident the squad would be ready "for any conditions."

"About preparation, I would say we will be playing five games in New Zealand (after this series)," Kotak said. "I have been to South Africa. Some wickets will be similar to our conditions. They also want to play on decent wickets. Because if you give uneven wickets in white-ball cricket, and if it is a low scoring one-day game, nobody wants that. So, wickets may not be like 350, 400. It could be 300, 300+. But it depends. So, we should be preparing for whichever conditions."

"And I think our batters, touchwood, will be ready for any conditions. But I don't think we can play on bad wickets. Yes, if it's like ideally 300, 320, 350 highest, that sort of wicket is good."

Kotak refused to single out the curators for criticism, arguing that producing a "perfect" pitch is far from an exact science. "See, we keep talking about pitches. But, let me tell you, I don't think anyone can make a perfect pitch in the world," he said. "No one can make a wicket and say that it will have only 250 or 300 runs. It is possible that the curator tries to make a match with 250 or 300 runs and the wicket spins or seams more and the team gets out for 150 runs. So, he will get criticism in that too. If he thought that this match will be high-scoring, could have 300 or 350 or 400 runs. That is why I said that criticism is something I would not do. And it's just how you make a perfect pitch. That is also a big task. I mean, it's not as simple and as easy."

The batting coach also traced the inflation of scores to the evolution of batting itself rather than merely the pitches. "Sometimes I also wonder that, say in 1983 World Cup, 180 runs in 60 overs were lot," Kotak reflected. "Today, it looks 400 also is not enough. So, whether it is only wicket to blame or standard of batting is going high, the way guys are batting. So, it's debatable."

Kotak suggested that a 300-run chase that becomes an even fight could, in some respects, be considered the ideal. But, he added with a note of caution, "the way India team is batting also, I don't know how (to define it)."