No grass in Green Park?

Team India opt for bald strip as Bangladesh left guessing ahead of tomorrow’s 2nd Test at Kanpur

Initially there was a bit of uneasiness in the Bangladeshi camp regarding the pitch for the second Test match, scheduled to be played at Green Park Stadium here from Friday. Two days before the start, when Bangladesh’s coach Chandika Hathurusingha spoke to the curator, he was informed that two pitches had been prepared for the game, one devoid of grass and the other with a tinge of green. That left Hathurusingha in a flux. But once Indian coach Gautam Gambhir inspected the square, he opted for the bald one, the mystery surrounding the strip was resolved.

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Once the Indian team management made their choice, the ground staff removed even the semblance of grass from the main pitch and got it to the liking of the Indian team. BCCI curator Ashish Bhowmik and UCPA’s own Shiv Kumar supervised the final preparations as the Indian team practiced in the nets on the pitches at the edge of the boundary.  

Chandika Hathurusingha. Pic/PTI

Plenty of speculation    

Undoubtedly, there is a lot of speculation surrounding the pitch: whether it will be a slow turner or a flat one. Going by the past, the strip here usually favours spinners, but low and slow bounce on the black clay pitch could negate the effectiveness of the spinners. This factor will have to be considered while selecting the playing XI. 

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Hathurusingha refused to speculate on the pitch, saying that since he was not sure (at the time of press conference) which of the two wickets would be used, he would not like to comment. “Anyhow”, he said, “whichever pitch we get to play on, we are well-prepared for it. Despite the heavy defeat in the first game, we have not lost our confidence and motivation. We have it in us to give the Indian team a good fight, especially as we have all our bases covered. We have a good all-round team with a set of good spinners and pacers. We just need to apply ourselves better with the bat to try and level the series,” the Sri Lankan-Bangladesh coach added.

Extra spinner for a pacer?

There is also talk going around that India may sacrifice a pacer and include an additional spinner to support Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. If that happens, it could either be Axar Patel or local lad Kuldeep Yadav. Axar, with his accurate skidding left-arm spin and batting ability could get the nod. 

However, after the day’s practice, the team management sent pace bowler Akash Deep for a media interaction. He is the one who is supposed to make way for a spinner. That has left all and sundry wondering if India would retain the bowling combination of three pace bowlers and two spinners. The coach and captain are keeping their cards close to their chest and the final combination will only be revealed at the toss on Friday.

As for Akash Deep, he said that it does not make much difference to him what type of wicket it would be. “In domestic cricket, we play on varied surfaces. Having regularly played cricket at various venues, I know how to bowl on any given pitch. I also know my role in the team as a pace bowler and if included in the XI, I will give my best,” the Bengal pacer said.

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