File photo of Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma© BCCI/Sportzpics
After losing the first two matches of the series against New Zealand, Team India is keen to make a comeback when the two teams square off in the third and final match at Wankhede. Earlier, a report suggested that a more ‘sporting’ track has been prepared at Wankhede which isn’t likely to offer as much assistance to spinners as the Pune pitch did. However, it has now come to notice that the Indian team has asked the pitch curator to prepare a ‘rank turner’ at Wankhede for the third Test, starting November 01.
According to a report in the Indian Express, the Indian team management isn’t happy with the nature of the Wankhede pitch. A request has been made to the pitch curator to ensure that spinners get help from the opening day in the match.
“It will be rank turner pitch. The team management has requested to prepare a pitch which can help spinners from day 1. It seems the team wants to go on a tried and tested formula,” the paper quoted a source as saying.
India’s request to have a rank turner in Mumbai is a surprise as New Zealand’s Mitchell Santner ripped through the defence of Rohit Sharma & Co. Santner only played the second match of the series and is already the top wicket-taker, with 13 scalps to his name.
It also has to be noted that winning the Mumbai Test is crucial to Team India’s hopes of reaching the World Test Championship final. Two defeats against the Kiwis have given India’s WTC final chances a big blow, especially considering Rohit’s men fly to Australia next for a 5-match series.
In Pune, it was Washington Sundar who managed to get the most out of the MCA stadium surface while the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja looked insipid.
With just 2 more days to go for the third Test to start, it would be interesting to see what sort of pitch would be offered to the two teams.
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