India Test captain Virat Kohli will be quite pleased with the report of Vizag pitch, where India is scheduled to play the second Test against England. BCCI curator Kasturi Sriram has said the track will not have much grass, unlike the Rajkot one.
Kohli expressed his surprise after the end of the match by saying:“I was quite surprised to see that much grass, to be honest. It should not have been the case.”
His concern was right too as his spinners found it extremely tough to dictate the terms throughout the match. As a result, England dominated the hosts. However, Alastair Cook’s men will have to be careful in the upcoming Test as the BCCI curator has said that the Vizag pitch will provide turn right from the second day.
While revealing that he did not get any instruction from the team management, Sriram said:“There will not be much grass and we should expect the ball to turn from lunch on Day 2.
“Yesterday, it was cold and today it’s drastically hot and humid and wicket appears dry now. We will see how is it on the eve of the match,” he added.
Meanwhile, Gokaraju Gangaraju, ACA secretary, played down any speculations of a turning track by saying:”We have prepared a neutral wicket and it should assist both the teams equally. We hope to see a result.”
The Vizag pitch has a history of low-scoring games. Last month, New Zealand were bowled out for only 79 in the ODI series decider. During a Ranji Trophy game last month, Rajasthan had bowled out Assam for only 69 runs in their second innings. The match ended inside three days.
Speaking on it, Gangaraju said:“The Assam wicket was a different one and some miscommunication had led to that.”
Referring to the New Zealand ODI, he said:“The wicket had a bit of moisture during the India-New Zealand match. But it was their inept batting that led to the collapse.”
While a spinning track would surely benefit the Indian camp but one should not forget that the ploy can misfire too. On a placid Rajkot pitch, the English spinners outshone their Indian counterparts by taking 13 wickets in comparison to Indian spinners’ nine. Moreover, the last home series against the English team is another reminder that Kohli’s men should not take them lightly.