India eye WTC Final berth, Aussies look to keep series alive as 2nd Test begins on Kotla turner
NEW DELHI: Once Team India's optional practice session got over on Thursday morning, head coach Rahul Dravid walked up to the pitch, asked the curators to take off the cover and extensively inspected the playing surface for a good half hour.
This may be just the second of the four Tests in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but a win here will guarantee a spot in the World Test Championship (WTC) Final to be played at the Oval in June.
Cheteshwar Pujara, on the eve of the match here, made it clear that Indian team doesn't want to delay its qualification beyond this Test. "This may be my 100th but this is a very important series for us. This match is very crucial. If we win another Test, that will ensure we play the WTC Final. It's my dream to win the WTC. We couldn't win the last WTC Final but this time we are looking forward to it," he said.
India are clearly sniffing the kill. Their spinners will be hunting around the drier patches at the good-length area of the pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla. India have got the combination just right for the conditions. In the first Test in Nagpur, the spin trio choked the Aussie batters with immaculately tight lines and trajectory before squeezing the life out of the bowlers with the bat.
"Just to be able to restrict Australia for 177 is a big credit to the bowlers. Later on, in the third and fourth innings things happen quickly in India, but there was a lot of hard work to get there" a pleased Dravid had said earlier.
It's everything that the Australians have struggled to do. Their camp looks spooked at best. The indecision with the batting order aside, skipper Pat Cummins really needs his spinners to sharpen up. The lack of bite on the same surface is going to haunt the Australians.
Here's the problem for theAussies. The spinners, led by the class of Nathan Lyon, are used to bouncy pitches with pace back home. "There is certainly a need for adjustment. In the last game we saw a lot of round-the-wicket bowling where in Australia it's mainly over-the-wicket bowling.
"The close catchers don't feel like the ball's going to pop up as much when there isn't as much bounce. Bit of an adjustment. There has to be more side-spinners, just changing up your angles a bit more. All those things come into a bit more," Cummins said on Thursday before laying out an ultimatum of sorts.
"It's a bit of an adjustment butit some ways it doesn't get any better. You have a pitch there that's spinning for you, you can show how good you are.
"The soil is different here. It's the black soil, but it looks pretty similar to Nagpur. I think it's going to spin. That's our expectation and the wicket matches that," Cummins added.
India are unlikely to make changes to their combination outside Shreyas Iyer coming back if he clears the fitness parameters. Aussies are still caught in the left-handers-vsright-handers dilemma. Lyon would take much confidence if Mitchell Starc passes the fitness test and bowls to create a rough outside the off-stump.
