Test cricket returns to India after 11 months. And maybe nearly in celebration, a 40,000-strong crowd is able to greet native lad Rohit Sharma and his boys on the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur, once they tackle the mighty Australian staff within the first of 4 Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy on Thursday.
When Rohit was reminded throughout the press convention that it’s nearly a full-house – solely 5,000 seats stay – with one full day to go for the sport, he solely noticed the event nearly as good news for Test cricket. “It feels good that so many people are coming for day one. They should come to all the venues (to cheer for us) and not just Nagpur. If people come, it feels great. People still want to watch good Test cricket.”
Only time will inform whether or not it will likely be a “good” Test, consistent with what the Indian captain is anticipating. But it will likely be one with increased stakes than ever, for certain.
‘Not thinking about WTC final yet’
With the World Test Championship closing in Oval, just a few months away, India and Australia look primed to complete prime two within the standings. The Baggy Green are a step nearer, requiring to come back off with solely a draw from this sequence to make sure qualification. India, then again, has to register a minimal of three wins to make sure the next win share and avoid South Africa and Sri Lanka. Any different scoreline, if not higher, will see it wait till March for the Proteas to tackle West Indies and the Lankans to conflict with New Zealand.
Rohit, nonetheless, isn’t prepared to interrupt his head over all of the potential equations. “Honestly, we haven’t spoken too much about that (WTC qualification scenarios). We will just try to do well in this series and see what happens. It is too far ahead to think about it now. There are a lot of calculations. We don’t want to get into that. We just want to focus on how we can win each Test match because we are playing in different venues. And each of them will present different challenges. None of the guys in the changing room or team room have been talking about it.”
Doctored wickets?
The Indian tracks, most of that are historically identified to favour heavy spin, have been a lot talked about within the lead-up to the sequence. The Australian media and some former gamers like Ian Healy have been important of Indian groundsmen allegedly making ready ‘doctored wickets’.
Rohit, nonetheless, is unfazed by all of the chatter. He mentioned, “I just feel that we’ve got to focus on the cricket that is going to be played here over the next five days and not worry too much about the pitch. In the last series we played here, a lot was spoken about the pitches. All 22 cricketers who are going to play are quality cricketers. So we shouldn’t worry too much about how the pitch is going to be like, how much it is turning, seaming or things like that. We are just going to come out and play good cricket.”
Selection headache
Rohit was insistent on maintaining his playing cards near his chest, saying that the enjoying eleven for the primary Test will solely be made identified on the toss. With vice-captain KL Rahul all however confirmed to open alongside him and Shreyas Iyer out with a again harm, there shall be a toss up between Shubman Gill, who’s within the type of his life, and Suryakumar Yadav, the No. 1 T20 batter, for the No. 5 spot. Also, with spinning all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin nearly sure to play, just one between Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav might make the lower.
Rohit mentioned, “It is going to be a tough one (selection). We know a lot of guys are in good form. It is a good sign for the team. When you have selection issues, that says a lot about how the guys are performing. What we have to do is we have to go to each venue, check the conditions and pick the best eleven. We are ready to play horses for courses.”
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com