Visakhapatnam,
Nov 16:
Under fire after a below-par show on a good batting strip, the Indian spinners will aim for an improved show on a comparatively more helpful track as they take on a gritty England in the second cricket Test, starting here tomorrow.
The pitch at the ACA-VDCA ground is expected to be a rank turner that will test the visiting side’s batting unit big time after skipper Virat Kohli expressed his displeasure about the Rajkot strip where Indian spinners got a total nine wickets with four English batsmen scoring hundreds.
Questions are being raised about Ravichandran Ashwin’s ability to get wickets on a good track after finishing with underwhelming match figures of 3/230.
Veteran opener Gautam Gambhir’s place in the side is also under scanner after his poor show in the first Test and now that young KL Rahul has been fast-tracked into side in the wake of his good show on his Ranji comeback, the Delhi southpaw will certainly be on tenterhooks.
As the battle is expected to boil down to the spinners, it will be interesting whether Virat Kohli wants an extra batsman or an all-rounder in the playing XI. Fielding is another area where the Indians would like to improve after their dropped catches.
Spin has been the way forward for India but the mantra did not exactly work out for MS Dhoni and Co more than four years ago when England snatched a 2-1 series win after losing the first Test in Ahmedabad.
It was widely attributed that India will come out all guns blazing against the embattled England especially after their embarrassing first-ever defeat in Bangladesh about two weeks ago.
Despite the drawn result, four of England’s batsmen got centuries and spinners had a larger share of 13 wickets, Alastair Cook and Co. Have shown that they they will not be pushovers unlike New Zealand, who were whitewashed 3-0 in the last series.
It’s clear from the visitors’ improved show that a tricky road lies ahead for India.
The famed Indian spinners did not dominate in Rajkot where the battle was won by the England troika of Moeen Ali, Zafar Ansari and leg-spinner Adil Rashid who returned with a match-haul of seven wickets.
Head coach Anil Kumble, however, defended their spinners who did not get much turn in Rajkot to return with nine wickets.
“Just because they got more wickets than our spinners doesn’t mean we will be at a loss but that’s what I am saying that we batted 160 overs. We will make our strategy based on the pitch we get, we will select the team accordingly. We play to take 20 wickets and win matches. Whatever wicket we get, we will play on that,” Kumble said.
Action shifting to Visakhapatnam, Ravichandran Ashwin will be in focus. Ravindra Jadeja and Amit Mishra will also like to up the ante.
The leg-spinner Mishra in particular will be looking forward to return to the venue where he had shot New Zealand out for 79 in 23.1 overs with his devastating 5/18 in an ODI two weeks back.
But it is really not the bowling that will turn it around for India as the New Zealand series suggested that India is yet to come to terms with five-bowler theory as there has been times the middle-order has looked brittle whenever Kohli or Rahane has had failures.
Teams
India: Virat Kohli, Murali Vijay, Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, R Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Amit Mishra, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, KL Rahul, Ishant Sharma, Hardik Pandya, Karun Nair and Jayant Yadav.
England: Alastair Cook (c), Haseeb Hameed, Joe Root, Ben Duckett, Moeen Ali, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow (wk), Chris Woakes, Adil Rashid, Zafar Ansari, Stuart Broad, James Anderson, Gary Ballance, Gareth Batty, Jos Buttler, Steven Finn and Jake Ball.
Match starts: 09:30 am IST. (PTI)
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