India head coach Gautam Gambhir has sent a clear-cut message to the Beckenham County Ground head curator, Josh Marden, about the type of pitched they want in preparation for their five-match Test series in England. Ahead of the first Test, which starts on June 20 at Headingly, the Indian team will play an intra-squad match in Beckenham.
Unlike the tour of Australia last year, the Indian team is going with full preparation for their first Test series in the new World Test Championship (WTC) cycle. India A, which featured a few players from the senior squad, have already finished their assignments against England Lions, drawing both their games.
Led by Abhimanyu Easwaran, the India A side will now be up against Shubman Gill’s senior India next week in Kent. The Test series against England also marks India’s first bilateral without the heavyweights Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, who retired from red-ball cricket last month.
What was Gambhir’s ask to Marden?
Ahead of the intra-squad match, Gambhir had an internal meeting with his support staff and sent a clear message to Marden on what type of strips they want for preparation keeping in mind the various conditions they would encounter during their stay in the United Kingdom.
“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,” Marden was quoted as saying to Revsportz.
“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,” added Marden. Gambhir’s ask made sense as he wanted an even contest between the batters and bowlers.
Hence he called for a good pitch which would offer his bowlers, especially the pace-unit, a significant practice before the series.
Key highlights in India A vs England Lions
The key highlights in two unofficial Tests has the Indian batter’s performance. In the first game, comeback man Karun Nair lit up the stage with a brilliant double hundred besides the nineties from Sarfaraz Khan and Dhruv Jurel in the first innings. In the second, Easwaran, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jurel and Nitish Kumar Reddy, all scored fifties.
KL Rahul headlined the second game with a hundred and a fifty. Easwaran and Jurel once again shown with the bat with another fifty-plus scores besides Anshul Kamboj’s 51 not out and Tanush Kotian’s unbeaten 90. Among the bowlers, Khaleel Ahmed’s four-wicket haul in the second game was the only standout bowling show by the Indians.
