India holds the aces in historic 500th Test
India’s net session on Wednesday (September 21) in Kanpur had two things that stood out. Team members spent plenty of time near the pitch, and on the practice surface, there was a cluster of slip, silly point and short leg who were all getting catching practice.
Despite all the noises about letting the 22 yards be and the focus being elsewhere, that was clearly the most important piece of real estate at the Green Park Stadium, where India will face New Zealand in the first of three Test matches from Thursday.
The wisdom from people who have an intimate knowledge of it is that the track will certainly aid turn. And that will be the first thing that goes into dictating each team’s strategies for the match.
Both have the same variety in spin options – an offspinner, a legspinner and a left-arm spinner – but the New Zealand side has some way to go before they can match the pedigree of India. R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were enough to run through South Africa almost without any help needed from other bowlers. Amit Mishra has been threatening whenever he has got the opportunity. In comparison, Mitchell Santner, Ish Sodhi and Mark Craig are fairly untested and raw. Between them, they have only 34 Tests and none have bowled in India in a Test match.
However, the combination of a spin-friendly surface, the potential of New Zealand’s trio, and perhaps an acknowledgment that against South Africa India’s batting overall against spin wasn’t quite as commanding as it could have been – Virat Kohli indicated that the team might be inclined to fortify its batting and forego the five-bowler strategy.
"We spoke about solidifying the batting a little bit more. All teams have quality spinners these days, and you don't want to leave a window for the opposition teams to capitalise, especially quality sides like New Zealand, England and Australia who we are going to play,” said Kohli. “We have to make sure all bases are covered. Some conditions might not need the fifth bowler, so we have to be smart about the combination that we play. Plus it's basically our thinking to solidify our batting a little bit more and see which four bowlers can come into play.”
Kohli indicated that the team management had narrowed down on India’s twelve, and possibly the XI too, but kept his cards close. “We always keep our options open till the morning of the match. But from the 12 that we select we tell them, that 11 among you will definitely play,” he elaborated. “We have played five pure bowlers earlier. In Sri Lanka we played four bowlers and an allrounder. In West Indies also we played five bowlers, but went with four in the last Test but the match was washed out. I don’t think we can go with a one-track mind and the same combination. It’s not logical in the long run. You have to play bowlers according to the conditions, or play the extra batsman. We assess the conditions and see how much workload is expected of bowlers, how much they can bowl. If we need a fifth bowler to take 20 wickets, then we’ll definitely play him. But we have figured out what combination to go with according to these conditions, though I obviously can’t disclose that here.”
At the nets, KL Rahul and M Vijay both batted for longer than Shikhar Dhawan, while Cheteshwar Pujara and Rohit Sharma also had good stints, so if Kohli’s four-bowler stratagem holds, the top order could well see Dhawan missing out. If the bowling options are down to only four, India will have to take a call on whether to go in with a single seamer – Bhuvneshwar Kumar seems the logical choice after his showing in West Indies – and three spinners, or have Mishra warm the bench and get two pacers in and hope for reverse swing to also play its part.
Both India and New Zealand will have 14-man squads to select from for this match. Ishant Sharma and Tim Southee, the two most experienced pacers in each side, are both out, while Jimmy Neesham’s all-round abilities will also be missed by New Zealand.
All three of New Zealand’s spinners turned their arms over in the nets, and for the visiting side, it could well come down to selecting two among the pace trio of Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell and Neil Wagner. It will be tempting to play Boult and Bracewell, with the latter adding heft to the batting and providing the variety of a right-arm option – an important point particularly if two left-armers are pounding in and creating rough outside the right-hander’s off-stump for Ashwin to aim at.
Kane Williamson, the New Zealand skipper, also didn’t speak about nailing down a final XI, but he did reiterate that spin would be a big factor and his team were preparing accordingly. “Certainly it looks very dry, not a lot of grass on it,” said Williamson of the pitch. “Coming here we thought spin would be a factor, and we certainly think it will be in this game.
“They have got very good spinners, naturally very experienced in these conditions,” added Williamson. “We have got some exciting young talent. We showed that in the World T20. That was huge for us. Yes the formats are different, but I am hoping we can build on from those experiences. A lot of learning experiences to be had. Certainly this is one of them, being exposed in these conditions.”
The forecast has been for a spot of rain in the city on at least four out of the five scheduled days of this Test, but the forecast was for rain in the days leading up to the match too, and so far the weather gods have been kind. If it does rain, the groundstaff at the Green Park will have to be on their toes, and every part of the ground will need to be covered. In preparation for that, covers had been stacked all around the boundary rope, and the plan is to be ready to cover the ground at the first sight of rain.
A little bit of rain won’t be amiss for New Zealand too – if nothing else it might cool down the Kanpur heat. Handling the heat from India’s spinners – that will be an entirely different kettle of fish. How well New Zealand do that will set the tone for this series.
Please click here to review the match in full in the ICC Match Centre.
