xtratime Logo

[caption id="attachment_23408" align="alignnone" width="580"] Indian captain Virat Kohli with his deputy Ajinkya Rahane at the Eden Gardens. Image Source: Xtra Time[/caption] Kolkata: A confident Indian team led by an able Virat Kohli will look to seal the test series against New Zealand starting from Friday at Eden Gardens. The hosts lead the three match series 1-0 following the win at Kanpur. India is dogged with injury problems to key players going into this test. Opener KL Rahul has already been ruled out due to a hamstring injury while off spinner Ashwin is also carrying a slight injury in his fingers. Gautam Gambhir has already been drafted in the squad as a replacement for Rahul while off spinner Jayant Yadav is added to the squad as a cover up for Ashwin. The nature of Eden Gardens wicket may prompt Virat to go in with five bowlers. In that case Amit Mishra or Jayant Yadav may play as an extra spinner along witn Ashwin if he is fit. That India's ace spinner has a niggle -- corn or thickened skin -- on the middle finger of his bowling hand may seem to be a worry. "I have a corn on my finger and I haven't bowled a lot in the last 25 days," Ashwin had said after the third day in Kanpur. "I'm not very happy with the way it has come out so far. I just hope that I can do better in the series." The 30-year-old off-spinner, playing just his 37th match, finished with match figures of 10-225, his fifth 10 wicket haul as he also joined the 200-club of Test wickets. Ashwin in fact stayed away from bowling at the nets and was seen chatting with the coach before trying out his hand briefly at batting. Uncapped Haryana off spinner Jayant Yadav who has brought in as replacement for Ishant Sharma may seem to be on stand-by if it proves too painful for Ashwin to play in Kolkata, something that may upset India's plan. The Haryana lad made his way through an impressive show in India A's recent tour of Australia, picking up seven wickets in the unofficial Tests at 22.57 apiece. In the 2014-15 Ranji Trophy he topped Haryana's bowling charts with 33 wickets, and in March this year he claimed a match haul of eight against Mumbai in the Irani Cup. Jayant also is a handy batsman and has a first-class double-ton to his name and a record-breaking eighth-wicket stand of 392, scored in partnership with Amit Mishra in 2012. India have also recalled veteran opener Gautam Gambhir who last played a Test way back in August in August 2014, during India's tour to England but it remains to be seen whether the 34-year-old makes his way into the XI at his IPL home ground. India also has Rohit Sharma back among runs in the second innings something that will put them in right frame of mind especially at his favourite venue where he had scored an ODI world record of 264. While the bowling looked settled and batsmen also chipped in it's the their star batsman Kohli who is long due for a big score since his 200 versus West Indies at North Sound in July. Since then Kohli has scored 78 from five innings including 9 and 18 in Kanpur as the flamboyant Test skipper toiled hard at the nets with an eye to be back among the runs. As for New Zealand's perspective, the visitors are set for a change in plan as far as their spin attack is concerned with veteran Jeetan Patel called in to replace the injured off spinner Mark Craig in their must-win Test. Patel arrived earlier this morning from England where he was the leading wicket-taker in the County Championships, with 69 scalps for Warwickshire as the 36-year-old is likely to partner the impressive leftarm orthodox spinner Mitchell Santner and legspinner Ish Sodhi. Santner was the biggest positive in the Kanpur Test he impressed both with the bat and ball. He scored 32 and 71 apart from his bowling figures of 3/94 and 2/79 to become first New Zealander after Daniel Vettori to score more than 100 and take at least five wickets. "He played outstandingly well. It’s his first time in this part of the world playing Test cricket and it was a great step in the right direction. "We all know he has got the talent with bat and ball and in the field, to apply himself like he did and bowl a number of overs and be successful against good players of spin. It was a huge positive for us. He’ll look forward to the next one and I’m sure he’s learned a lot from this experience," Kane Williamson. Apart from Santner, middle order batsman Luke Ronchi scored a defiant 80 in the second innings and shared a 102-run partnership with the left-arm spinner. But the top order in experienced Martin Guptill -- who scored a 21 and zero -- remains a worry as their batsmen must look to bat in sessions in order to build their innings in the subcontinent conditions. Team India are in the midst of one of their finest streaks at home remaining unbeaten from 12 Tests which include 10 wins and two draws, a journey that began with the 1-2 series loss against England in December 2012. They have begun a packed 13-Test home calendar with a massive 197 run defeat against the visiting Black Caps in their 500th Test. Having entered the three-match series one lower than Pakistan, India will also look to reclaim the number one rankings in the ICC Test rankings with a victory at the Eden Test. Indian Team (likely): Murali Vijay,Shikhar Dhawan,Cheteswar Pujara, Virat Kohli,Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma,Ravichandran Ashwin, Wriddhiman Saha,Ravindra Jadeja, Md Shami, Umesh Yadav/Amit Mishra/Jayant Yadav