Moments after India’s final training session of the one-day series against Australia concluded, head coach Ravi Shastri joined captain Virat Kohli, deputy Rohit Sharma, Test vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane and on-song all-rounder Hardik Pandya on the outfield of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.
They didn’t huddle to discuss the combination for Sunday’s ODI. Instead, they perfected the script handed to them and followed it up with a first-take video to support the Prime Minister’s cleanliness drive.
Surface tension
Had India’s middle-order been able to overhaul a stiff target on Thursday, it would have entered the fifth and final game with a clean slate.
Come Sunday, however, and it will hope for a cleaner pitch — a truer one, for that matter — than it has found recently at Jamtha, on the outskirts of the Orange City. After all, over the last two years, the home turf of ICC chief Shashank Manohar has been in the headlines for sub-standard pitches.
If the strip for the Test against South Africa in 2015 was termed “poor” and the VCA was reprimanded, the situation hardly improved during the World Twenty20 last year. India was bundled out for 79 on a rank turner while chasing New Zealand’s 126 for seven, prompting the ICC to send an SOS message to its pitch expert Andy Atkinson.
No wonder then that the VCA was prompted to bring in a curator and relay the square soon after the T20 International against England earlier this year. Despite being under the scanner, curator Praveen Hingnikar put up a brave front. “That is all in the past. We will reclaim our lost glory,” the former Vidarbha all-rounder told reporters on Saturday.
“The bounce will not be on the higher side, but it will be consistent. It will be a good pitch as far as the spectators are concerned. It will surely have more runs compared to the recent international games played here.”
Despite Hingnikar’s promise, don’t be surprised if the pitch, which wore a placid look, ends up slow and low. While Kohli’s men will not be too bothered about the track, Australia will hope to reverse the trend of faltering in conditions that are not tailor-made for batting.
The visitors struggled to cope in Chennai and Kolkata, which were not exactly ideal for batsmen in white-ball cricket.
However, with Steve Smith & Co. putting up a much better show in improved conditions in Indore and Bengaluru, even notching up a win, it will be fascinating to see how the Australian batsmen approach their task on a wicket that is expected to be slow.
Kohli’s men, on the other hand, have little to worry about — except for getting the rotation policy right. Leggie Yuzvendra Chahal chose to rest instead of joining his teammates for Saturday’s training session.
However, more than the spin department, Kohli and Shastri will have to ponder over the pace combination.
With home-town hero Umesh Yadav set to retain his place on the back of a four-wicket haul in Bengaluru, it will be interesting to see whether Mohammed Shami gets another game.
Irrespective of the combination, with their confidence at its peak, Kohli’s men will be keen to sign off on a high.
The teams (from):
India: Virat Kohli (capt.), Rohit Sharma, K.L. Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav and Mohammed Shami.
Australia: Steve Smith (capt.), Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Pat Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wk), David Warner, Adam Zampa and Peter Handscomb.
Match starts at 1.30 p.m.