Surprisingly, the first of the two-match Test series between India and Bangladesh at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai was on a red-soil track, which displayed significant carry and bounce in the game along with spin towards the backend. That was quite rare on an Indian ground, especially in Chennai, but the team management spoke about keeping their focus on the upcoming Australia trip.
The fast bowlers enjoyed their time in the middle despite the heat and humidity of Chennai. Nine of the ten Indian wickets in the first innings came on the back of the fast bowlers breathing fire. In the case of India’s bowling performance, their fast bowlers earned eight scalps in the second innings of the game.
As the game went on, the surface started to lose its juice, and the spinners came into the play. In the fourth innings, Ravichandran Ashwin ended with 6/88 in his 21 overs, while Ravindra Jadeja picked up 3/58 in 15.1 overs.
Kanpur Test welcomes India with black soil track; no rank turner expected
The normal black soil track will be back for the second game of the series, which will find the bounce and carry vanishing, but it won’t be right to expect a rank turner at the Green Park Stadium, which hosted its last red-ball game for India in 2021 against New Zealand, who batted 98 overs in the fourth innings to end the game in a drawn result.
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The red-soil track played a key part in both the teams going with three pacers in their line-up. Jasprit Bumrah, Akash Deep, and Mohammad Siraj were lethal with the ball in both the innings of the Test match.
Ashwin, at the end of the first day’s play in the opening Test, spoke about the importance of using the bounce of the Chennai surface, which was witnessed throughout the game. In a contrasting manner, the bounce will be quite low for this Kanpur game, which will also force a change in the bowling plans of both teams.
Both Taskin Ahmed and Hasan Mahmud were excellent for the visiting side, which expects Nahid Rana to get a break for the game. The left-arm spinner, Taijul Islam, could be a replacement, who has featured in 46 Tests for the Tigers and has captured 195 wickets at an average of over 30 and a strike rate of more than ten overs.
For India, the third seamer could be replaced by one of Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel. The latter picked up a five-wicket haul in the last Kanpur Test against the Blackcaps, and the way the home side struggled with the bat in the first innings, they would love to have an all-rounder in the side.
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But the question arises, whom will the Rohit Sharma-led side drop? Jasprit Bumrah, the premier pacer, has bowled 21 overs for four days and will get nearly four days of break before the Kanpur Test. He will have a couple of weeks rest before the start of the first red-ball game against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
If he plays, then Akash is the likeliest to be dropped for the game. Both the last two red-ball games of India in Kanpur were against New Zealand, and both lasted five days, which shows the excellent nature of the surface. The bowlers, however, will need to go through hard work for the prizes, while the batters can aim to score big in the absence of any tricks on the surface.
