Courtesy: BCCI/X
After losing a Test series for the first-time at home in 12 years, the Indian cricket team will be playing the third and final Test of the series against New Zealand at the Wankhede Stadium. Following a crushing defeat by 113 runs on a turning pitch in Pune last week, the Indian management have reportedly made a surprising demand to the curator to prepare a “rank turner” in the Mumbai Test beginning on Friday, November 1.
Notably, in the Pune Test, the Indian batters struggled massively on a pitch which provided quite a lot of assistance to the spin bowlers with decent turn and variable bounce as Mitchell Santner bagged a 13-wicket match haul, by far the best bowling figures of his Test career. The batting lineup of India has found it tough to negotiate the opposition spinners from time to time in home Tests in recent times whenever the pitches have helped the spinners.
Indian team management has requested to prepare a pitch which can help spinners from day one: Sources
As per the report from the Indian Express, a source was quoted as saying about the Mumbai pitch, “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.” Moreover, as the Mumbai pitches are made up of red soil, there will be enough bounce for the spin bowlers, and coupled with expansive turn, it could be very difficult for any batter to survive for long.
Quite famously, Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai produced a rank turner way back in 2004 during a dead rubber Test between India and Australia, a four-match Test series that the hosts ultimately lost 1-2. On that very occasion, India managed to defend 106-run total successfully, winning the Test match by 13 runs inside three days after both the teams combined to score just 605 runs across four innings.
Moreover, in the ongoing Test series between India and New Zealand, the veteran duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja haven’t been at their best with the ball. With that, Indian management might be looking to give them the best opportunity to skittle out the opposition twice on a rank turner, while hoping for their batters to stand up in adverse batting conditions.
