On 'Flat' Rajkot Pitch, India Expect Spin to Come Into the Picture at Some Point While England Alter Plans

Team India arrived at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot around 10:15 AM and coach Rahul Dravid was the first to do his routine inspection of the playing surface. It was very different from what the coach had seen last afternoon as the green tinge was gone and the surface wore a very flattish look from some distance.

“Rajkot Patta loading” was the chatter in the press box as the Indian players made their way to the nets for one final hit before action gets underway on Thursday. The five-Test series is locked at 1-1 and the long break between the second and third Tests has only built up the excitement after two quality contests. And the Rajkot strip is likely to keep it that way.

India Playing XI Questions: Axar or Kuldeep? Jurel or Bharat?

Local boy Ravindra Jadeja, fit and raring to go, feels the strip is on the harder and flatter side, and spinners will come into play when it starts breaking up as the game progresses. India’s premier all-rounder expects it to “play well early on”.

Ravindra Jadeja is expected to make his return in Rajkot. (AP Photo)

“Wicket generally stays flat and hard here but it also depends how it has been prepared. This wicket looks good, looks hard. Every time you play here, wicket behaves differently. At times it stays flat, at times it turns. There are instances where it plays well for first two days and starts turning later on. I am expecting this wicket to play well early on and it will turn as the pitch starts breaking down,” says Jadeja at the pre-match presser conference.

‘I can’t hide on the field’

Jadeja missed the second Test due to a hamstring injury but has passed the fitness test in time for the Rajkot fixture. Like every cricketer, there was a sense of disappointment in his tone when he spoke about missing games due to injuries but emphasised how the amount of cricket they play has increased and how his way of playing the game “could also be the reason”.

“Cricket also has increased these days so that also is on the mind and especially the way I play cricket. I can’t hide on the field. Across formats, I remain in the fielding hotspots only and that could also be the reason. Expectation from the team is also there to take a good catch or a good run-out. If you work smartly on the body, I don’t think any problem should arise but again there are no gurantees in cricket. It can happen again tomorrow so you never know,” says Jadeja.

Jadeja’s return and KL Rahul’s injury will certainly force the management to take some tough calls to maintain the balance of the side and there is a strong possibility of seeing some debuts. Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel are the two young players likely to come into the Playing XI. Will the inexperience in the middle-order change the way Jadeja would bat? “No,” came the crisp reply after he thoroughly explained why the new players are experienced enough to tackle the challenges of Test cricket.

Dhruv Jurel during a practice session in Rajkot. (AP Photo)

“These new boys are not technically new. They have played a lot of First Class cricket and are pakke pakaye players. They have an idea of playing long innings and what to expect in Test cricket. This time had to come and it’s better for them to make their debuts on home soil. Confidence wise, it’s better than making debuts in countries like South Africa and Australia. It’s ideal for them to make debut in India because they have played lot of cricket here in India and have an idea about how wickets behave here,” explained Jadeja.

The taste of Bazball

Jadeja did get a taste of Bazball in the opening Test in Hyderabad, which India lost, and the experienced all-rounder feels England are not a difficult team to beat and have an “aggressive style of playing cricket”. For him, it’s just about understanding their approach and then executing plans to tackle that approach.

“I won’t say they are a difficult team to beat but they have an aggressive style of playing cricket. For visiting teams in the past, it hasn’t been easy for them to play in these conditions. Even the first match of the series, we lost after taking a big lead so we slipped a bit with little mistakes. Had we not done those, we would have easily won the first match too. It’s just that they play with a different style so it takes some time getting used to it. Once you understand the approach, you can plan your game better,” says Jadeja.

It hasn’t been business as usual for Indian spinners in the series as wickets haven’t offered much purchase and England’s attacking approach has put them under the pump on occasions. Like Kuldeep Yadav said on Tuesday, Jadeja isn’t looking to alter his plans due to that approach and echoed his younger teammate’s thoughts.

“As a bowler it’s better to keep the lines simple since they will be anyway looking to play shots. It’s better not to try different things seeing their style. It’s better to keep it simple and there are better chances of getting success doing that. I feel that if something is happening off the wicket and batsman is doing different things, then there is a better chance of picking a wicket. Even if I get a wicket after conceding some boundaries, I will be more than happy,” says Jadeja.

Flaky strip

Shortly after India wrapped their training session, it was England’s turn to assess the conditions and both coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes had a long, hard look at the playing surface. For Stokes, the pitch looked “flaky” and he can already spot “few cracks”.

“When you look down on the pitch, there are like few cracks. Obviously you have to wait and see. You never want to go ahead with too many pre-conceived ideas around wickets but you have to have some sort of idea which is why we ended up picking the XI,” says Stokes on the pitch.

England have made one change to the playing XI as Mark Wood came in for Shoaib Bashir. The visitors have retained Rehan Ahmed as his visa issue was sorted in time and he received the required papers before England announced their XI.

When both teams were done with their respective sessions, the 22-yards was placed under covers again for one final time before the Test and it now remains to be seen if it remains on the flatter or flakier side.