Has India really lost the plot as far as preparing pitches for Test matches are concerned? It was no surprise that Harbhajan Singh came down hard on the playing surface after the first day's play in the opening Test against South Africa in Chennai.
"Super-Pata hai [a very flat strip]," he said, offering his opinion on the strip at the M A Chidambaram stadium.
South Africa put up a healthy 304 for four after half-centuries from their top three batsmen.
India hosted Pakistan last year on some of the flattest wickets ever found. While the opening Test at the Ferozeshah Kotla produced a low-scoring result in favour of India, the other two Tests saw batsmen make merry and bowlers suffer.
The second Test at the Eden Gardens was a nightmare for bowlers as India posted 616 for five declared followed by Pakistan's 456 all out before it ended in a draw.
There could not have been any other result in the third game at Bangalore when India amassed 626 and Pakistan replied with 537. It was only the brilliance of Anil Kumble and his unbelievable spell of medium pace that nearly gave India a thrilling victory before bad light saved the visitors.
Harbhajan underlined how important it is to win the toss on such wickets and post big scores so that the opposition crumbles under the pressure of the task ahead.
"I think it was very important to win the toss, but we could not win it. But Madras [Chennai] wicket has always been like that. It has always been good for the batsmen for the first 2-3 days and then the spinners come into play. You can't really keep complaining about the wickets," the ace-off spinner said.
"You can't keep on complaining about the wicket. Whatever wicket you get you have to play to the best of your ability. You can't keep saying it's flat or there's too much grass on it or too much spin, but play on whatever wicket we get," he added.
Neil McKenzie top-scored with 94. His 132-run partnership for the opening wicket with Graeme Smith, who made 73, gave the visitors a dream start, and it was not until the 34th over that India got a breakthrough when Kumble got the wicket of Smith.
"It was a first day on the wicket and you can't rely on the patches. You have to vary your line and length according to the wicket. Let me tell you one thing that the wicket is very, very flat and it is hard for the bowlers to keep running in with the same intensity in this heat. But I think in the first session we gave away a lot of boundaries and a lot of their runs were scored in boundaries," he said.
But BCCI pitches committee chairman Daljit Singh countered Harbhajan's claim.
"If the ball starts spinning and bouncing on day one of a Test match then everyone will say it is a bad wicket. Harbhajan has played so much cricket and taken more than 200 wickets. I am sure he knows that on the first day there is no turn or spin," Daljit told rediff.com.
Daljit believes that the wicket will be good for batting for the first three days before spinners can gradually get into the game.
"Batting first on such wickets is an advantage. It was a very important toss to win and if South Africa can post a total in excess of 400 and their spinner Paul Harris can bowl well then they could put India in trouble," he said.
But Harbhajan feels the South African batsmen will struggle in the second innings when the pitch deteriorates.
"We have a very good chance to win this Test match and I am telling you it will be very difficult for them to play in the second innings," he said.
The Punjab spinner said the Indian fielding was a big let down as they ended up conceding more than 30 runs.
"I think we have given around 20-30 runs in our fielding and that makes a big difference. I hope tomorrow we put in a good performance in bowling, batting and fielding. These things happen in cricket and, hopefully, it won't repeat again. It would have been nice to stop those 30 runs and see the scoreboard at the end on 270 for four," he said.