Ishant out of first Test due to illness
Ishant Sharma, recovering from the mosquito-borne viral infection chikungunya, will miss the first Test of the series against New Zealand, which begins on September 22 in Kanpur.
Anil Kumble, the India coach, did not rule Ishant out of the series, though. "We will be closely monitoring his progress with the doctors, and then we will take a call about his fitness after this Test," Kumble said in Kanpur. "For this Test match the team management has decided we won't need a replacement."
In the absence of a replacement, and looking at the activity in the India nets, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Umesh Yadav seem to be the frontrunners to make the XI. Mohammed Shami is the other quick in the side. The pitch is quite dry and cracked, although the cracks are not loose or powdery. According to the curator it won't turn as alarmingly as the Nagpur pitch did last year, but there will be reverse-swing on offer.
The possibility of reverse-swing at high pace could tilt the selection in favour of Yadav ahead of Shami. If India play five bowlers, that is. There will be turn on this pitch for sure - the amount and the promptness of it can be argued - which means India will play three spinners. Turn in Kanpur is usually slow, which could make India feel they need an extra bowler to take 20 wickets. If they don't, though, Bhuvneshwar Kumar is the frontrunner to be the lone seamer in the XI.
In the nets two days before the Test, only Bhuvneshwar and Yadav bowled to the frontline batsmen. It was a long, intense session involving a lot of bouncers in the fast bowlers' net. Shami only came out to bowl at the lower order and Shikhar Dhawan, who likely to miss out on selection.
Rohit Sharma batted along with the other specialist batsmen, which could be an indication that India hadn't made their minds up regarding the XI. Just like the bowlers had a long bat, M Vijay and Rohit rolled their arms over once they were done batting.
The big decision is whether India need and want an extra bowler or not. Under Virat Kohli as a full-time captain, India have started every series so far with five batsmen and an extra bowler: the idea being to set the tone early and remove any negative safety-first attitude at the start of a series. Only an extraordinary pitch should cause Kohli to veer from that path, and the coach Kumble said this wasn't an extraordinary pitch, although only after expressing annoyance at being asked about what he expected from it.
"It is a typical Kanpur pitch," Kumble said. "This is the start of the season, and we don't usually play here in September. But the wicket looks good. I will only say that the talk should be about the cricket on the pitch. We have also discussed the same. Whatever wicket we get we will adapt to that."
About Harbhajan Singh's warning that asking for tailored turners could backfire on India, Kumble said: "We have not demanded any pitch. We will play on whatever surface is there. We go in with the thought that our spinners are better, and if you see their experience and quality they are very good. We hope that the performance we showed in West Indies continues here. Definitely, it's an Indian pitch so there will be turn. But everyone only wants to see the first ball and form their opinions. But I'm the coach, and I cannot think only about the first ball. We will think about the whole match and go with the aim of winning the Test and the series."