Top spot beckons

Rohit Mahajan

Tribune News Service

Kolkata, September 29

Who will ring the bell?

High above the sightscreen at the pavilion end of Eden Gardens, a little above the dressing rooms, they’ve installed a new, silver-hued bell, like the one at the Lord’s ground in London. Kapil Dev will ring this bell tomorrow morning to mark the start of the second Test match between India and New Zealand. It will be a beginning, but it could well be an end, too. The echoes of the bell could ring in the end of BCCI as we know it.

Who will ring the bell? This question has been asked about the Indian cricket board (BCCI) over the last several years. Now we have got an answer — the Supreme Court has rung the bell, and BCCI is set for a huge change, much against the wishes of its officials. They face the horror of relinquishing power. Relinquishing power... It’s never a pleasant thing. It’s much more agreeable to acquire power.

Ironically, even as BCCI’s officialdom faces disaster, the Indian team is on the verge of getting empowered. If India win this Test, the team would become No. 1 in the world. For fans of Indian cricket — the ones who believe that the sport could do with better, more transparent governance — it’s a win-win situation: Reforms in BCCI, and India becoming No. 1.

No. 1 not a big deal

India captain Virat Kohli, though, says that being No. 1 is no big deal. He’s been showing signs of great maturity in recent times. Today he made some remarks that could well have come from a Zen master. For instance, he said this about the No. 1 ranking: “If you get attached to these things (goals), then you get upset if you are not able to do it. It's better to observe things that are not directly in our control from far.”

Kohli did say that he wants to win. He’s confident of India putting up a good show. He said the key lies in scoring big and putting the visitors under pressure. "As a home side, we feel if we are able to put big runs on the board, that obviously puts pressure on the opposition regardless of the wicket we are playing on," Kohli said. "The opposition feels they have to work that extra bit... That gives you an advantage in the game.”

Kohli also said that he expected the wicket to be good for batting. There was a tinge of grass on the pitch today, but it’s likely to be gone by the time play starts tomorrow morning. After the World T20 final in April, the square was dug up and the wickets were relaid. This Test would be the first first-class match on this wicket since then; it’s impossible to forecast how it would behave. Kohli, though, seemed quite certain about it: “It looks like a normal wicket that we expect at Eden Gardens. The surface is pretty nice, it has a little bit of grass covering. It should be a good wicket to bat on... It's generally a very good batting wicket more often than not. We are expecting the same."

Extra bowler?

India played four specialist bowlers in Kanpur; would Kohli go for five bowlers on this batting-friendly wicket? Kohli has said in the past that, in playing attacking cricket and going for wins, he prefers five bowlers in his team. Today he hinted at the possibility of including two off-spinners — Ravichandran Ashwin and Jayant Yadav — in the XI, because New Zealand “have five left-handers in their line-up”.

One definite change from Kanpur is the replacement of the injured KL Rahul by Shikhar Dhawan. Gautam Gambhir has landed here as a back-up opener, but he’s not likely to get into the XI.

250th Test match for India at home. The last time India lost a Test at home was in 2012, which was at Eden Gardens against England. Since then India have won 10 and drawn 2 

1965 New Zealand last played at Eden Gardens. The Kiwis have played only two Tests here. Both the matches ended in a draw. However, there have been only two draws here in the nine Tests played since 2000

3 Four-wicket hauls by left-arm spinners in the last three Tests at Eden Gardens. There has been just one such haul by right-arm spinners in the same period. Left-arm spinners have had a better average (35.42) than right-arm spinners (43.73) in those Tests 

56.84 Average of India batsmen at Eden Gardens since 2006 — the best among the 21 venues where they have played more than two Tests. India have 12 centuries here — the most at any venue since 2006.