Motera Nights: India venture into unknown

Ahmedabad, February 23

A fresh wicket at the new stadium here has become the big talking point on eve of the third Test — a Day/Night game — against England, which starts here tomorrow.

The Sardar Patel Stadium at Motera has been witness to many cricketing feats — Sunil Gavaskar completed 10,000 runs in Tests here, Kapil Dev had his best bowling figures of 9/83 here, and it was here only that Kapil broke Richard Hadlee’s then world record of highest wickets.

More history might be made here as the Day/Night game is likely to produce a result, and an Indian win will help the hosts get into the World Test Championship final. That would be the icing on the cake for the 55,000-odd spectators who would be allowed in.

Massive stadium

India last played a Test here in 2012, and after the venue has been refurbished, even the home team doesn’t know what to expect — it certainly not guaranteed advantage for them.

India would have preferred a turning wicket to go 2-1 up in a high-stakes game, but Day/Night Tests are expected to help swing bowlers, and England enjoy a superiority over India on that count.

Rohit Sharma was clear in the team’s choice of surface — a turner that helps Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, just like Joe Root would have opted for a greentop in England.

Composition

When there are many unknown variables that warrant factoring, any captain would like to assess the conditions. “…this Test pink ball Test, we are playing in new ground, so for even for us there are a few things we don’t know how we will have to tackle,” Ishant Sharma, set to play his 100th Test, said.

Anderson has no doubt that by tomorrow afternoon, the wicket will be shorn of grass, as was the pitch in Chennai.

Umesh Yadav passing the fitness Test was good news for the Indian camp as Kuldeep Yadav is likely to be dropped from the playing XI.

Umesh, Ishant and Mohammed Shami had polished off Bangladesh twice inside six sessions in India’s inaugural Day/Night Test in Kolkata.

But this England team, with batsmen of the calibre of Joe Root, Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow, will pose a far greater challenge.

Hardik Pandya has been kept with the Test team with an eye on his bowling workload but it’s not known whether he is Test match ready. Pandya taking the bowling load of 15 overs per innings could provide more balance to the playing XI. His big-hitting skills would be a bonus.

Three pacers?

For England, with Moeen Ali already gone back home, Dom Bess is expected to lead the spin charge with Jack Leach.

However, whether Anderson and Jofra Archer will have Stuart Broad or Mark Wood for company is still not clear. — Agencies, TNS

Key questions

• How would the twilight period be for the batsmen as James Anderson feels that the ball swings more in that phase?
• Will the extra lacquer on the ‘SG Test Pink’ ball make things difficult for the Ashwin-Axar combo, which wreaked havoc on the Chennai turner?
• And with a 2:30pm start, how much will the dew have a bearing during the final session? The ball would be difficult to grip at that point for slow bowlers and the pitch, despite grass being shaved off, might ease out.

India at Day/Night: 1 win, 1 loss

• November 2018: Beat Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs in Kolkata (Bangladesh 106 & 195; India 347/9d)
• December 2020: Lost to Australia by 8 wickets in Adelaide (India 244 & 36; Australia 191 & 93/2)