Shaken by the eight-wicket loss in the opening Test of the three-match rubber against New Zealand in Bengaluru, India have bolstered their squad with the addition of off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar for the remaining two Tests in Pune and Mumbai, respectively.
The Kiwis secured a 356-run lead after bowling the hosts for a record-low total of 46. Despite India’s fightback in the third innings, the Black Caps ensured they went into the second Test 1-0 up after overcoming an ask of 107 in the final innings.
In the follow-up, India have added Sundar to their Test squad. The right-arm spinner has six wickets from his four Tests, and has 265 runs with an average of 66.25.
Although the original squad had Axar Patel as a fourth spinner along with Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav, who played the first Test, the selectors have added a 16th member to the squad in Sundar, thus dropping enough hints of the nature of tracks expected in the two venues.
Slow turners in Pune & Mumbai?
Under pressure to make it 2-1 in the three-match rubber and remain in contention to make the World Test Championship final next June, the pitches in Pune and Mumbai are expected to be slow turners with the bounce being the only difference between the two. The varying bounce is a result of the difference in the soil: black at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, and red at Mumbai’s Wankhede Stadium.
The pitch was expected to be similar in Bengaluru but the overcast conditions coupled with intermittent rains in the lead-up to the first Test, made it favourable for seamers at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the New Zealand pacers dominated after India elected to bat.
But going by India’s latest addition in the squad, India is expected to once again go ahead with three spinners, though the combination could be altered keeping in mind the amount of spin that can be extracted from the slow surface.
Pune’s tryst with Test cricket hasn’t been a mixed bag, as the first match it hosted was the opener of the 2016-17 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which Australia rode on left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe’s inspiring tally of 12 wickets to hand a 333-run humiliation to the hosts by tea on the third day. The pitch was rated poor by ICC match referee Chris Broad, as spinners accounted for 31 of the 40 wickets to fall.
In 2019, the venue was allotted another Test, this time against South Africa, and India rode on a Virat Kohli double ton to record an innings victory. As Pune gears up for its third Test, and the home side already down 0-1, a lot will bank on the natural of the track, which is expected to have very less grass cover due to which there could be minimal seam movement after the first hour of play.
The lack of assistance to the quicks and the sluggish nature of the wicket could make the toss a critical factor here as both captains could be tempted to bat first, survive the initial scare and put up a huge first innings total.
The Pune Test will be played from October 24-28, whereas the third Test will be played between November 1-5 in Mumbai.
Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (WK), Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep, Washington Sundar.