NEW DELHI- SAYANTAN BADRA- The unexpected defeat of a high-on-confidence Indian team from the hands of an unfancied Australian team has again raised eyes on Indian pitches. However, the famous Chinnaswamy pitch at Bangalore is not expected to be such extreme..
R Sudhakar Rao, secretary at the Karnataka State Cricket Association, has stated that the curators of the stadium are trying to make such a strip that the game lasts its entire duration… Clearing all controversies, he added that the Indian team has not yet arrived on site yet and has not left any instructions either..
“Our intention is to prepare a sporting, Test-match pitch. We want a five-day match. We definitely don’t want to see the match end in two and a half days.”
If we are to believe the curator and the recent condition of the pitch, the first two days should be a belter of a pitch for batsman, but the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Umesh Yadav would also get some support with raw pace.. Turn should start from day 3 onwards and if the game goes till tha last day, spinners will have a deciding role to play as always.. So, win the toss and “bat” first..
IMPORTANT POINTS OF THE MATCH:
Changes:
AUSTRALIA: One change could be Glenn Maxwell in place of Mitchell Marsh as the talented All-rounder hardly got a ball in the match and scored only 35 runs in the match.. Also another contender could be 23-year old Ashton Agar who is a good option as a lower order batsman as well.. We still don’t see any places for Usman Khawaja in the team yet.
INDIA: With swing coming into play, Bhuvi should make a comeback or India may go for an extra batsman with the recently triple century scoring Karun Nair on the benches…
Spin Twins:
No one ever thought that India would lose the first test and that too not from the astonishing pace of Mitchell Starc but from the teasing dollies of Steve O Keefe.. If the team wants on carry on the lead their spin tein in the form of Lyon and Keefe would again play a deciding role.. Also if Ashton Agar comes into play, it would be an added benefit to the team..
India looks settled with the in-form duo of Jadeja and Ashwin but would definitely look to strengthen their bowling unit with the swing of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.. If the Indian team looks on levelling the series their spinners would definitely want to exploit the unexperienced batting gang of Steve Smith..
STAT REPORT:
India last lost a match at this venue in 2005 at the hands of Pakistan.. Also in this period the OZ’s have drawn and lost a match respectively at the Chinnaswamy..
India would look to stop Steve Smith from scoring a century as if he does so he would join the elite club of the three Australian Captains (Mark Taylor, Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting) to score a ton at this venue..
Also if Steve Smith scores 112 runs in the match he would reach the 5000 test run mark in only 52 matches.. Ajinkya Rahane, on the other hand needs 87 runs to reach the 2500 run mark in tests..
The cranky pacer Mitchell Starc needs 5 more wickets to reach 150 test wickets in just 36 games if he does so at Bangalore..
If India needs to lower the high on Confidence Australian team, nothing less than a win would do so for them..
And lastly, all the questions would surely be answered during and after the match.. The first step is win the toss and Bat first…
