Gambhir, Morkel hold internal meeting, send ‘clear' message about Team India's plans to England pitch curator
Unlike the Australia tour last year, where the intra-squad game was shelved in a last-minute decision, the Indian team management is fully ready for the match, this time in preparations for the England Test series. India A have completed their outing against the England Lions, where they played two drawn games, and are now slated to go up against the Shubman Gill-led senior India side next week in Kent, a match that will be the team's only preparatory match for the five-Test crucial contest up ahead.
The series will begin on June 20 in Leeds. In a bid to prepare, the visitors set up a training camp at the South East London venue in Beckenham as they solidify their preparations for the first bilateral Test series without its batting bigwigs Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who retired from Test cricket last month, thus marking the beginning of a new era.
Indian team management had an internal meeting on Tuesday, and head coach Gautam Gambhir and bowling coach Morne Morkel sent out a "clear" message on how they would want to prepare in Kent, keeping in mind the various conditions they would encounter during the England Test series.
After the meeting, Gambhir spoke to Josh Marden, the head curator at Beckenham County Ground, and said that he was looking for a "realistic" pitch setting, implying an even contest between bat and bowl. While most pitches in England, especially the ones up north, have favoured the seamers, Gambhir wasn't ready to put his batters at risk just yet in the only practice matches. He hence called for a "good pitch," which could even offer some significant practice for his pace-bowling unit.
"Yes, the coaching staff, including Gautam Gambhir and others, spoke to us after their internal meeting. Their message was clear: "We want a good pitch." Not something too flat or too green, but something that will genuinely help with match preparation. They wanted more realistic conditions, not just batting drills. So we adjusted a few things, grass cover, net width, and length extensions. The feedback has been great since then," Marden told Revsportz.
The current strip on which India are practising is a more batting-friendly one, but Marden revealed that they took measures to offer "enough life" for the seamers.
"Yes, and no. The soil here naturally plays batter-friendly, so visually, the wicket may look dry or flat. But we manage grass density, not just what you see, but how thick it is. The pitches currently used by India and Australia have slightly more grass than our usual white-ball surfaces. It's a subtle balance. Even with a brown surface, there's enough life in it for seamers, if you hit the right length," he added.
Besides the preparations, the practice game will also largely hint at India's batting order for the Test series. There has been considerable speculation over the top-order line-up after Rohit and Kohli's exit, with newbie Sai Sudharsan and the returning Karun Nair set to occupy spaces in the line-up.
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