Ind vs NZ: Rain likely to play spoilsport on day 1, bald pitch with underlying moisture set to help bowlers

The
two
teams
had
to
call
off
their
respective
training
sessions
on
Wednesday
as
it
rained
the
whole
day.
In
fact,
there
is
forecast
of
rain
on
Thursday
and
with
expected
heavy
outfield,
the
Indians
will
travel
all
the
way
to
the
Bandra-Kurla
Complex
ground
which
has
indoor
facilities
unlike
the
Wankhede
stadium.

The
Wankhede
strip
has
a
pretty
bald
look
with
all
grass
shaved
off
to
help
the
slow
bowlers
after
the
low
bounce
at
Kanpur’s
Green
Park
literally
deflated
them.
However,
the
pitch
that
will
be
on
offer
at
the
Wankhede
from
Friday
is
expected
to
help
both
seamers
as
well
as
spinners.

The
persistent
rain,
with
the
pitches
being
under
cover,
means
that
there
is
bound
to
be
a
lot
of
moisture
underneath
the
surface.
The
extra
moisture
will
certainly
help
the
seamers
way
more
than
it
did
in
Kanpur
but
a
surface
like
this
also
helps
the
tweakers
as
it
also
helps
in
getting
appreciable
turn.

However,
with
forecast
of
scattered
showers
on
Friday,
both
teams,
especially
India,
will
wish
that
from
second
to
fifth
day,
the
inclement
weather
doesn’t
become
a
factor.

“Intensity
(of
the
rainfall)
will
be
decreased
by
December
2,”
Jayanta
Sarkar,
head
of
Mumbai’s
Regional
Meteorological
Centre
of
the
IMD,
said.

Three
seamers,
two
spinners
or
two
seamers,
three
spinners

All
eyes
will
be
on
the
kind
of
combination
that
India
pick
for
the
game.
As
of
now,
Mayank
Agarwal
is
all
set
to
be
dropped
with
skipper
Virat
Kohli
coming
in
the
playing
XI
as
the
team’s
support
staff,
including
coach
Rahul
Dravid
and
bowling
coach
Paras
Mhambrey,
have
rallied
around
the
under-fire
Ajinkya
Rahane,
who
has
an
average
of
less
than
20
in
12
Tests
this
year.

The
other
change
which
could
happen
is
Wriddhiman
Saha
going
out
with
a
stiff
neck
and
Srikar
Bharat
getting
his
maiden
Test
cap
and
also
opening
the
innings
alongside
Shubman
Gill.
Considering
that
there
will
be
seam
and
swing
on
offer,
there
will
also
be
a
debate
whether
Mohammed
Siraj
will
be
replacing
Ishant
Sharma
or
joining
him
and
Umesh
Yadav
with
Axar
Patel
being
sidelined
for
the
game.

“We
will
have
a
look
at
the
wicket,
then
we
will
see
what
combination
is
right:
three
spinners
and
two
seamers
or
two
spinners
and
three
seamers,”
Mhambrey
said.

“Depending
on
that,
we
will
decide
the
playing
XI.
But
everybody
in
the
group
believes
whoever
is
part
of
the
team
is
good
enough
to
represent
the
country.
“And
we
know
the
potential
they
have
in
winning
the
games
for
us.
We
will
decide
the
combination
depending
on
the
surface,
but
whomever
plays,
we
believe,
has
the
ability
to
win
the
game
for
India,”
the
Indian
bowling
coach
said.