South Africa Vs India: Preferred tracks blight or the benefit for hosts?

In the past and until the fourth and final Test of the Ashes 2017-18 season when Melbourne surface drew a flak for being lifeless – the distinct surfaces have had received the criticism for either being substandard or clearly have had witnessed wiping out the tourists in three-odd days, but with the new set of rules being enforced by the International Cricket Council (ICC) South Africa is all set to host India in the first of the three-Test match series in Cape Town on January 5 (South Africa Vs India).

The fresh rule has solely come into the force on 4th of January 2018, as several surfaces across the globe haven’t seen any sort of improvement till the date, but why would not the Proteas opt for preparing up the nasty surface or surfaces there is a solid reason to that.

On the other side, the new regulation is seen as a watershed moment in the gentleman’s game and to make the contest even-steven, the host countries are further supposed to be cautious while settling for surfaces for the oppositions.

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It has already become a norm in the past which generally saw the pitches being rated poor and curators of such surfaces have faced the music from the Board in the recent past.

Moreover, the players have been charged heavily which revealed the latest example in the form of Bangladesh’s senior campaigner Tamim Iqbal, who was charged by the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB).

With the latest guidelines from the Board, the hosts would not want to get surfaces banned for being substandard or when it comes to fixing the surfaces from time-to-time.

According to the new system, the surfaces will be awarded two demerit points which would be referred as ‘below average and three demerit points will be handed to the venues which will be reported by the Elite-level match referees and the unfit for playing conditions would receive five demerit points.

However, even being aware of the newly-set regulations Cricket South Africa has a worrying sign which won’t allow the hosts to prepare the pitch owing to the lopsided contests.

The latest rulebook simultaneously states the venues will be banned which ranges from one-year to two years, as the extremely batting or bowling-friendly wickets will be closely monitored by the Dubai-based Board.

The hefty amount of fine which will be imposed is ranging from $15,000 to $30,000.

Interestingly, we might also not see the return of the 1996’s Kingsmead surface in Durban that proved to be the hostile bowling-pitch when India was dismissed on 100 in first innings and then 66 as the then Hansie Cronje-led Proteas won the Test by 328 runs.

While considering the revenue, the CSA is bound to provide a wicket which would play better throughout while considering the broadcast revenue as the recent fallout has somewhat costed the Board half of its cash reserves after maiden edition of the T20 Global League failed to kick off.

The example of the staggering loss is India when the giant broadcaster Star registered the INR 100 crore losses after Nagpur and Mohali Test finished inside three days

Not showing any upsetting signs about the latest clause, the CSA has already expressed the downfall of the cash reserves which could further affect the development in one way or another and this time around they are highly-likely targeting the advertisements.

In the recent past, the CSA has been suffering a massive loss and they might have wished for the return of 3-0 loss when spin-duo Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja steamrolled the visitors.