CHENNAI: There’s still a couple of days to go before the ball rolls. India are fighting for a spot in the World Test Championship Final in June 2025 and the first stop is Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
As India plan their assault on the neighbours, who are coming here on the back of a morale-boosting away series win against Pakistan, there seems to be a change of approach in the Indian camp.
In a departure from the trend at Chepauk, India are set to play the Test on a red-soil pitch, which will have more bounce for the bowlers and both spinners and pacers should enjoy themselves, provided they are on the money. Interestingly, three years ago, Virat Kohli‘s India played the first of the two back-to-back Tests here against England on a red soil pitch and were soundly defeated.
The team management got angry, the curator was sent back home, and India were back on a black-soil track for the second Test, where the ball turned square from the first session and India bounced back to notch up a big win.
For Bangladesh though, the Indian team management is planning a little differently. While it is quite evident that as much as they want their spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and most probably Kuldeep Yadav to make the most of the conditions, the new think-tank won’t mind leaving something for their pacers as well.
Jasprit Bumrah, who has been in magnificent form of late, can really be the difference maker while the second pacer – one among Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep – too should have some life to work with from the track. Akash Deep, in fact, had a long bowl on Monday and it will be interesting to see if India play three pacers and keep Kuldeep for another day.
The choice of the pitch may also have to do with the strength of the rivals as well. Coach Gautam Gambhir would love to negate the threat of the Bangladesh finger spinners Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam and the likes, who are very capable of using favourable conditions.
The cover over the match pitch was taken off in the morning for watering and from a distance, it didn’t look too dry. One felt that if both the teams bat well, there can be a contest, with no one department getting overwhelming help from the track. But when it came to the training on a hot Monday morning, the Indian team decided to make it way more difficult for the batters. The practice pitch, on which Bumrah, Ashwin & Co. bowled looked like a fourth day red-soil pitch with a lot of turn and uneven bounce. And it made life really difficult for India’s young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who will partner captain Rohit Sharma.
Let alone Bumrah and Akash Deep, Jaiswal struggled against the practice bowlers as well and repeatedly got beaten outside the off-stump. Virat Kohli, who was batting alongside Jaiswal, stopped to have a brief conversation with the left-hander, but the problems didn’t end. Such was the degree of difficulty for the 22-year-old that after a long 40-minute stint, Jaiswal went to the practice net at MAC ‘B’ to do some knocking and then again came back to the centre square.
Things didn’t improve drastically, but the only point in Jaiswal’s defence is that none of India’s much-vaunted batting line-up had it easy. Even Kohli was dismissed a couple of times and the super competitive Indian great didn’t look overly pleased with Bumrah’s celebration after getting him out.
But then, that spoke volumes of the commitment to the cause that the modern master has as India look to get one of the four necessary wins out of the way so that the route to WTC Final doesn’t become too stressful.
As India plan their assault on the neighbours, who are coming here on the back of a morale-boosting away series win against Pakistan, there seems to be a change of approach in the Indian camp.
In a departure from the trend at Chepauk, India are set to play the Test on a red-soil pitch, which will have more bounce for the bowlers and both spinners and pacers should enjoy themselves, provided they are on the money. Interestingly, three years ago, Virat Kohli‘s India played the first of the two back-to-back Tests here against England on a red soil pitch and were soundly defeated.
The team management got angry, the curator was sent back home, and India were back on a black-soil track for the second Test, where the ball turned square from the first session and India bounced back to notch up a big win.
For Bangladesh though, the Indian team management is planning a little differently. While it is quite evident that as much as they want their spin trio of R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and most probably Kuldeep Yadav to make the most of the conditions, the new think-tank won’t mind leaving something for their pacers as well.
Jasprit Bumrah, who has been in magnificent form of late, can really be the difference maker while the second pacer – one among Mohammed Siraj and Akash Deep – too should have some life to work with from the track. Akash Deep, in fact, had a long bowl on Monday and it will be interesting to see if India play three pacers and keep Kuldeep for another day.
The choice of the pitch may also have to do with the strength of the rivals as well. Coach Gautam Gambhir would love to negate the threat of the Bangladesh finger spinners Shakib Al Hasan, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Taijul Islam and the likes, who are very capable of using favourable conditions.
The cover over the match pitch was taken off in the morning for watering and from a distance, it didn’t look too dry. One felt that if both the teams bat well, there can be a contest, with no one department getting overwhelming help from the track. But when it came to the training on a hot Monday morning, the Indian team decided to make it way more difficult for the batters. The practice pitch, on which Bumrah, Ashwin & Co. bowled looked like a fourth day red-soil pitch with a lot of turn and uneven bounce. And it made life really difficult for India’s young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, who will partner captain Rohit Sharma.
Let alone Bumrah and Akash Deep, Jaiswal struggled against the practice bowlers as well and repeatedly got beaten outside the off-stump. Virat Kohli, who was batting alongside Jaiswal, stopped to have a brief conversation with the left-hander, but the problems didn’t end. Such was the degree of difficulty for the 22-year-old that after a long 40-minute stint, Jaiswal went to the practice net at MAC ‘B’ to do some knocking and then again came back to the centre square.
Things didn’t improve drastically, but the only point in Jaiswal’s defence is that none of India’s much-vaunted batting line-up had it easy. Even Kohli was dismissed a couple of times and the super competitive Indian great didn’t look overly pleased with Bumrah’s celebration after getting him out.
But then, that spoke volumes of the commitment to the cause that the modern master has as India look to get one of the four necessary wins out of the way so that the route to WTC Final doesn’t become too stressful.
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