Mohali: Post-mortems are messy affairs. No amount of mucking around in the viscera of a cricket match yields all one needs to know. So complex and myriad are its possibilities, and so interlaced its factors that predictions and deductions are often tossed out of the window.

The purported relationship between good tracks and good cricket is a case in point. The pitch at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur for the first Test was curious, certainly not `good'. Runs were as hard to come by as wickets — set aside the last 12.5 overs of maverick cricket that saw 92 runs and four wickets, and the rest of the match realised 1181 runs at just over 2.8 runs an over and 25 wickets in 417.1 overs.

Dreadful drudgery one would assume, yet Cook, Jaffer, and Dravid turned on a display of the finest defensive batting; Kaif, Collingwood, Kumble, Harmison, and Panesar showcased the nous, skill and bloody-mindedness needed for late-order fight-backs; Hoggard swung it `Irish' and had a spell of 6-3-6-3; Panesar ripped two past capable bats and straightened one into a world-famous pad.

Compelling stuff

It was compelling stuff. But, the battle was one of attrition, not of cavalry charges. Slow, low wickets tend to produce such cricket. Bounce is the single most important factor for a pitch. Tracks with bounce afford fuller lengths and, as a consequence, more attacking strokes.

"We thought there would be more bounce and turn," said Dravid after the Test, adding he would prefer the Mohali wicket to have the missing ingredients.

The nature of the playing surface ties in closely with another question that's beginning to do the rounds: Does India have an attack that can take 20 wickets? While the uncharitable view has it that India has peashooters for quicks and spinners who need designer dust bowls, recent history suggests it can't quite be dismissed with the contempt it deserves.

Kumble, Pathan, and Harbhajan — India's top three bowlers — in the last five Tests have required an additional four, six, and two-and-a half overs respectively to take their next wicket. These extra deliveries have been translated into runs — they average between 17 (Pathan) and 25 (Harbhajan) runs more. The off-spinner's place in particular is under the scanner.

In perspective

These numbers, however, have to be put in perspective. Lahore and Faisalabad were bowling graveyards; batsmen could fill their boots with impunity and there was little any bowler past or present could have done. Pakistan's bowlers tried pace and swing, two instruments that can take the pitch out of the equation. Even that had little effect.

And against Sri Lanka late last year, Kumble (seven) and Harbhajan (ten) had taken 17 of 20 wickets on an Ahmedabad track that had some juice for seamers; it was no Bunsen burner (Pom speak for rank turner). The champion leg-spinner had also varied his pace and angle masterfully against the Lankans on an unresponsive Delhi wicket to clutch victory when it seemed beyond India.

The second innings in Karachi turned the arc lights on the deficiency. The admirable Mohammad Asif hit the deck and cut it off the seam to spectacular effect, while India's medium-pace bowlers floated it in and were carted to all parts.

Air speed

India needs someone with air speed, and someone who could do an Asif. The team management hopes S. Sreesanth, who ran in hard at Nagpur, hit speeds of up to 87 mph and managed movement both in the air (reverse mainly) and off the wicket, will go on.

One of the men to sit Nagpur out, left-armer R.P. Singh can extract surprising lift thanks to an excellent wrist position during release and a front knee that doesn't collapse. Fast-bowler Munaf Patel destroyed England in the tour game, though his clean-up of the tail contributed in large part to his ten wickets.

These men should be thrown in to the mix to see if they have what it takes. As Dravid said, "we will have to try harder to take 20 wickets."

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