GREEN PARK READY FOR A SPINFEST

Rahane Declares Ahead Of 1st Test That India Will Keep Playing On Turners At Home; Williamson Looks For ‘Other’ Ways To Counter Threat

- Arani Basu

Test pitches in India get more airtime than those in any other country. Even before browsing through the squads, teams spend much of their time trying to discern how they are going to play. That they will take prodigious turn is a given. But how soon it will start spitting venom in a Test match keeps everyone on tenterhooks.

Let’s clear all doubts before the first Test against World Test champions New Zealand gets underway at the Green Park in Kanpur on Thursday. It’s going to be a spinfest right through. The pitch looks bare and dry, crumbly as a cookie from a distance. And India’s stand-in captain Ajinkya Rahane dis not mind declaring on the eve of the match: “We are in a World Test Championship. We have to make the most of home advantage. In future, you will see we are going to play on spin-friendly pitches.”

No one is in need of big runs more than a woefully out-of-form Rahane at this moment. And playing on spinning tracks cuts down the chances of getting back in form. The statement makes it clear that this Indian team doesn’t care if they are being frowned upon for playing on pitches that take turn from Day One.