The Indian deputy skipper, Ajinkya Rahane expects the Chepauk pitch can be expected to offer a huge amount of turn from the very first day of the second Test against England. The hosts will be looking to level the four-match series and remain in contention for the World Test Championship final. India lost the first Test by 227 runs on a deck that didn’t have anything for bowlers while the fresh pitch, which is looking darker and drier, promises to be a spinners’ paradise in the game starting Saturday.
Talking about the same during a virtual media interaction, Ajinkya Rahane said, “Yeah, it looks completely different. I am sure it will turn from day 1 but again as I have said before the first Test match, you have to wait and see how it plays in the first session and take it from there on…but yeah we have to forget what happened in the first Test. We know these conditions really well and we have to put our best foot forward tomorrow and yeah that’s it.”
Despite hinting that left-arm spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel is available for selection, Rahane didn’t gave any confirmation regarding the playing XI.
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Elaboraing the same, Rahane said, “Everyone is in the mix and the good thing is Axar is fit and I am not going to tell you who is going to play tomorrow. See all our spinners are really good and given a chance they will all do really well.”
Virat Kohli’s deputy also defended the spinners’ performance in the series-opener and said that their first innings form wasn’t something that the team was overly concerned about.
Defending the Indian spinners, Ajinkya Rahane said, “If you see the first two days, there was nothing for our spinners and fast bowlers. Considering we bowled 190 overs and they scored 578 runs, I thought we really bowled well. There was nothing on that wicket. If you see the second innings, all our spinners, especially Ashwin bowled really well. We are not too concerned about how our spinners are bowling and I am sure we will come out with a plan.”
About the 27 no balls and 31 dropped catches since the epic Australia series win, Rahane said that the team is working on the issues.
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Rahane explained, “We are really working hard on what we can control. In India, close-in catches are really important and sometimes these things happen. No one does it intentionally, it’s all about how confident you are. Close in catches are really important. About, no balls, yes we all were disappointed about the no balls and they are working really hard.”
