Debasis Sen, Chelmsford: Virat Kohli & co.’s four-day practice match against English County side Essex which is set to begin from tomorrow is reduced to three days. According to the official release by the county the match was shortened due to the heat waves across the country.
Indian team management got surprised to see a wicket full of grass. A small meeting took place in the middle with all the support staffs together. Head coach Ravi Shastri was animated and signaling the manager to get someone from the county. Someone was seen rushing to the ground and having a word with Shastri.
The oval county ground has nearly 25 pitches comprising its central square, and all of them had lush green grass covering. It was a strange sight given the heat wave prevalent in nearly all of United Kingdom at the moment, with temperatures in Chelmsford soaring to 27 degrees at the time of writing.
India’s practice session last nearly four hours, with players arriving here in two batches. Nearly all batsmen and bowlers had rigorous workouts, with Cheteshwar Pujara, Murali Vijay and Virat Kohli also concentrating on slip fielding. Even so, the sheen was taken off this practice session as the decision to shorten the game came two hours later.
As per statement from India’s media manager, the game has been shortened to three days with the squad traveling to Birmingham on the fourth scheduled day (Saturday) and starting their preparations for the first Test (from August 1) a day early. When contacted, a representative from Essex County Club said that a statement might be coming forth later in the day.
Earlier in the morning, the Indian support staff had a long chat with the ground staff after inspecting conditions on arrival. The fact that the game has been reduced only points to the fact that the visitors are unhappy with what they saw. A green-top wicket, along with a rugged outfield, in a non-first-class game against Essex wherein Alastair Cook is missing, is hardly the best preparation ahead of the first Test.
A senior member of the ground staff spoke with PTI on the condition of anonymity and said that ‘all requests of the Indian team management have been accepted’. When pressed if that included ‘shaving off grass’ and/or ‘reducing the game’s duration’, he simply said, “We have bent over backwards to accommodate the Indian team management’s demands. It is disappointing though because we had sold a lot of tickets for the fourth day (Saturday).”
In turn, this poses a question mark over the world number one side’s preparations for the upcoming five-Test series. With the wicket and ground conditions turning out to be completely different from what is expected to be on offer during the Tests, it remains to be seen how the Indian team management goes about doing things over the next three days.
Given that the game is not a classified first-class match, it is confirmed that the Indian team will be using all 18 members of their Test squad in this game. This includes Jasprit Bumrah, who bowled in tandem with Ishant Sharma, albeit with a heavily taped-up left thumb. Mohammed Shami also bowled a long spell in the nets.
Shikhar Dhawan worked on facing the short ball and took tips from Shastri, while skipper Virat Kohli took throwdowns. KL Rahul followed openers in the nets, as Pujara batted later in the session. The remaining batsmen took their turns as part of the second batch. India will field all players, and look to get in some batting and bowling time for their frontline batsmen.
In fact, Pujara along with Ishant, Shami, Bumrah, Karun Nair, R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja were all part of the second batch as part of the Tests’ specialist squad, and they were all given a warm welcome by the support staff and other members of the squad.