When was the last time Team India played just two spinners at home? That is a question that even I don’t know the answer to. In the past decade, Indian pitches have been labeled as ‘dustbowls’. No one, including most of the Indian batters, has thrived on surfaces that have aided spinners to often such a point that having pacers became useless. But that’s changed, at least for the India vs Bangladesh 1st Test.
Rohit Sharma, the Indian captain, has decided to select three pacers, that too, of all places in Chennai. A surface is known for helping spinners, even in T20 cricket. Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, two of India’s finest spinners, aren’t even playing. Instead, we have Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, and Akash Deep starting.
Playing in Chennai for Perth Challenge
I’m no betting man, but I would have bet my house before the match that India will play at least three spinners. We’d heard that a red-soil surface, which offers good bounce, is going to be used for the first test. No biggie; our spinners thrive on such surfaces as well. But the line-up suggests that the Chennai pitch will not only have bounce, but the pitch will assist the pacers as well.
As soon as I heard Rohit Sharma say, after losing the toss, ‘three seamers and two spinners’, I putted two and two together. A pitch with good bounce and assistance? That reminds me of something. A place India is going to tour in a couple of months that has bouncy tracks and offers assistance to pacers early in the innings. Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir are planning for Australia.
The first match of the Australia tour will be in Perth. Now, some might not know, but it has often been called the ‘fastest’ and ‘bounciest’ track in the world. The Indian management probably asked the curator at the MA Chidambaram Stadium to roll out a pitch that’ll be closest to the WACA.
The surfaces in the Duleep Trophy had also suggested the same. That hutch has turned out to be true. The match in Chennai isn’t about facing Bangladesh but rather preparing for the five-match Test series against Australia. Now, is that the right tactic? Is India undermining Bangladesh? We’ll get the answer to these questions on September 23 or even before.
India’s Playing XI vs Bangladesh for 1st Test
Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj.
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