The bias(-worma)

While much of mud-slinging that BCCI faces these days has been self-inflicted, there are also enough cases of kick-them-while-they're-down. A recent allegation from Scyld Berry in Telegraph saying that the tour venues have nothing to do with policy of rotation.

The Indian board justified the venues by saying that they had a policy of rotation and that various associations take it in turns to stage home Test matches. The reality is that the board are overwhelmed by political squabbles and lawsuits. Such is their incompetence that the venues for Sri Lanka's three Tests in India in December have yet to be announced

Here's a list of last 20 test matches played in India. Do decide for yourself if you see a more-or-less fair rotation of venues or not.

Eng 1st Test in Ind 2001/02 at Chandigarh
Eng 2nd Test in Ind 2001/02 at Ahmedabad
Eng 3rd Test in Ind 2001/02 at Bangalore
Zim 1st Test in Ind 2001/02 at Nagpur
Zim 2nd Test in Ind 2001/02 at Delhi
WI 1st Test in Ind 2002/03 at Mumbai
WI 2nd Test in Ind 2002/03 at Chennai
WI 3rd Test in Ind 2002/03 at Kolkata
NZ 1st Test in Ind 2003/04 at Ahmedabad
NZ 2nd Test in Ind 2003/04 at Chandigarh
Aus 1st Test in Ind 2004/05 at Bangalore
Aus 2nd Test in Ind 2004/05 at Chennai
Aus 3rd Test in Ind 2004/05 at Nagpur
Aus 4th Test in Ind 2004/05 at Mumbai
SA 1st Test in Ind 2004/05 at Kanpur
SA 2nd Test in Ind 2004/05 at Kolkata
Pak 1st Test in Ind 2004/05 at Chandigarh
Pak 2nd Test in Ind 2004/05 at Kolkata (refused to play in Ahmedabad)
Pak 3rd Test in Ind 2004/05 at Bangalore (Delhi stadium wasn't ready)

SL three tests at Delhi, Kanpur, Chennai

Eng three tests at Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Mumbai

What I do feel is that the Kanpur test given to SL could have been swapped with the Ahmedabad test of Eng. And who knows what would be done once Eng raises the safety bogey for Ahmedabad.

My own observation on the so called 'bias' is:

1)Kanpur seems to be missing in early stages, and I think there was some question mark about Kanpur's test status for a while....can't seem to remember exact details.

2)Rotation policy seems to be applied for choosing the venue for a series as a whole. And within the series, the distribution of the matches, to me, doesn't seem to follow the rotation policy as strictly.

But Berry goes on further, in his self-created logic

If there is any cricketing intent behind the selection of Ahmedabad, Nagpur and Mumbai, it must be that the board want three grounds that can provide slow, big-turning pitches. That would play into the hands of India's spinners and make life correspondingly hard for England's quartet of pace bowlers

So, he thinks Chennai and Kolkatta are not big turners? Where we defeated the mighty Aus team in 'that' series, and more recently Pak in Kolkatta, while having a good run against Aus again in Chennai? And does he even know the history of the last test played in Nagpur?

And then there's Arjuna's allegation of giving 'second class' status to SL ODI venues!