Second Test: Sundar may get look in to thwart Kiwi left-handers

It’s going to be back to a familiar recipe for Rohit Sharma’s men — a slow turner with low bounce and a three-pronged spin attack — as they look to bounce back against New Zealand after that ill-fated session in Bengaluru a week back. The hosts did show a lot of character against in the second innings, though they could not prevent defeat, and do not want to take any more chances in Pune.

The bounce and carry in the Chinnaswamy wicket in Bengaluru, not to speak of the overcast conditions when play began on second day, had hurt India’s pride badly as they are not used to being rocked by pace at home.

So ever since the team reached Pune for the second Test, reports have come in about how the team management got ground staff to shave off any speck of grass on the black-soil turf, but the riddle is what combination they go in with. Will it be Ashwin-Jadeja-Kuldeep again, or Washington Sundar in place of one of the three?

The addition of Sundar, who has only played four Tests till date, is being seen as a contingency measure as the spinners surprisingly failed to make much of an impact against the Kiwi batters in either innings at Bengaluru. The tall off-spinner can spin the ball away from the southpaws on a regular basis along with veteran Ashwin, and the Kiwi top order has three of them in captain Tom Latham, Devon Conway and the gifted Rachin Ravindra.

Speaking to the media, head coach Gautam Gambhir gave a peek into their thinking: ‘’We just felt that they have 4 or 5 left-handers in the playing XI as well. So if we want another bowler who can take the ball away from the left-handers, it’s always going to be useful for us as well. But we haven’t decided what’s going to be our playing XI. We feel that with the two openers and one left-hander in the middle, Washington can give us more control and he is a good option for us.’’

Sundar can also provide a bit more muscle with the bat, since the Indian tail failed to wag in Bengaluru after Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and Sarfaraz Khan provided them with a solid launching pad for a recovery. A target of 180 on a fifth-day wicket, instead of the actual 107, could have still provided a twist in the tale.

Balance the key

Looking back, one must give due credit to Rohit for admitting upfront that he had misread the wicket in batting first. It’s rather uncharacteristic for Indian captains to own up to such decisions, since they often live in denial, so he deserves the credit for such transparency.

This time around, India will wait until the last minute to get the balance right, while the reassuring news from Gambhir is that Rishabh Pant has no injury concerns and is set to keep wicket. He hurt his knee during the second day’s play of the first Test, causing Dhruv Jurel standing in as a substitute. 

Pant hit the nets for batting practice and also had a wicket-keeping drill with Gambhir on Tuesday. “I think he’s going to keep wicket tomorrow. (There are) no other fitness concerns,” he added.

On their part, New Zealand have shown grit and readiness despite the absence of Kane Williamson from the first two Tests. Will Young appeared resolute in his place at the crucial no. 3, while Ravindra showed remarkable maturity in his first Test on Indian soil.

The Kiwis will, however, expect more of Daryl Mitchell and Tom Blundell’s bats, and at the same time, want the others to try and emulate Tim Southee’s feat in the first innings of the opening Test. They need to ensure that all the early good work does not come undone.

Catch the match

India vs New Zealand, 2nd Test

Maharashtra Cricket Academy Stadium, Pune

Play starts at 9.30 am (IST)