More than the players, all eyes will be on ‘when’ the pitch at Green Park begins to turn in India’s 500th test.
India plays its landmark 500th test starting tomorrow. The host, Green Park in Kanpur will be hosting its first test in almost seven years. Like every test match played in India in the recent past, the center of attraction quite obviously has been the pitch. Will it turn from the first day itself? Has the team asked for a rank turner? Will a rank turner result in the repeat of the horrors of 2012? All of these questions resulted in only one answer from the curator, “It’s a sporting wicket.”
The ‘sporting wicket’ phrase has become the most commonly used metaphor for every pitch before the start of the test. However, these ‘sporting pitches’ have cleaned up games in three days or even less as it was evident during the series against South Africa earlier this year. If not for rain, a five-day test stretching into the fifth day has now become a distant memory.
For Virat Kohli and his band of boys, it’s all about making the right noises before the start of a long season. Coach Anil Kumble stressed on the fact that the team has not asked for a rank turner in Kanpur. To be fair, the struggle of most of the players against spin was evident in Sri Lanka as well as the South African series. Asking for a pitch like that may only backfire if not anything more as the visitors too, possess a decent line-up of spinners in Ish Sodhi, Mark Craig and Mitchell Santner.
India’s batting card looks pretty settled barring a couple of spots. KL Rahul should most likely get the nod to open the innings with Murli Vijay ahead of Shikhar Dhawan following his impressive show in the Caribbean. After an impressive show in the Duleep Trophy, Cheteshwar Pujara should be a no-brainer at one drop and one would expect similar ‘daddy hundreds’ from the Saurashtra lad who last scored a century in Colombo almost a year ago. Opting for five bowlers would mean Rohit Sharma will have to cool his heels on the sidelines. Another interesting thing to watch out for would be whether the team continues with their experiment of sending Ravichandran Ashwin at No.6.
With Ishant Sharma out due to illness, Mohammad Shami will be leading the bowling attack. The toss between Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav should favour the former after his performance against the West Indies. The three spinners automatically make the cut should India continue with their five bowler theory.
The Kiwis on the other hand have a lot to ponder over. The injury to Tim Southee before the tour has dented their bowling attack which will now be led by the left-arm quick Trent Boult. With Jimmy Neesham injured as well, the visitors have been deprived of an all-rounder. Martin Guptill has had a horror start to his sub-continent tour with scores of 15 and 0 in the practice game against Mumbai. The batting will mostly rely on skipper Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor who have the experience of having played tests in India before.
The wicket-keeping option will be between Luke Ronchi and test regular BJ Watling, though the former has tilted the scales firmly in his favour after his century in the practice game. Eyes will also be on the three spinners in Sodhi, Craig and Santner and how they manage to exploit the dust-bowls across the country.
With 30 percent chance of rain forecast during the first and the fourth day, one can only hope for the clouds to stay away and not play spoilsport for what promises to be an intriguing and an action packed season ahead.
hormazfatakia 
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