Batsmen to face challenges on slow Green Park wicket, toss crucial

Kanpur: New Zealand captain Ken Wlliamson seems to be right in his assumption of having a spinning track at Green Park , Kanpur when the Kiwis face India in the first of three cricket test match series commencing on September 22 next.

The Kiwi skipper may have made his guess while still sitting thousand of miles from India and Kanpur but the persistent rain coupled with the lack of sun has already ensured a slow track at Kanpur ground ready to host a test match after a gap of three years.

Indian team, consists of three front line spinners in Ashwin, Amit Mishra and Ravindra jadeja were rearing to test the New Zealanders. Incidentally, all three spinners are of different genre. The Kanpur pitch has always been in the favour of batsman and this season , the shortage of time to relay the pitch has forced the ground staff to give same pitch with little help to pacers.

It is not that only the hosts will have some advantage because the black caps also have three of quality spinners in Mitchell Santer, Mark Craig and Ish Sodhi The men in white will have a curious war of attrition with both sides having fair quality of spinning talent.

Shiv Kumar, the curator of Green park pitch, told Newstrack.com, that the pitch would be on the slower side for sure but provide a level playing round for both the teams. ''It is not because of any specific instructions but the persistent rain did not allow pitch to dry up and get hardened due to lack of sunlight for days.'' Adding ''the proper sunlight would have presented a hard pitch conducive to fast bowlers but that was not to be.'' In other words both the teams may face equal share of their problems on the slow track, Shiv Kumar said.

He hinted that the toss will play a crucial role as whoever will win, elect to bat first as batting in the second innings will be a difficult task. “If batting first, any team which scores more than 400 runs then match could be shifted on its side,” he added.

What else pitch curator said:

• Fast bowlers are likely to play lesser role in the match.
• Only the first session of Day one could produce some help from the pitch.
• After the first session, pacers could be seen struggling.
• In that case, spinners have to produce some quality spells claiming wickets for their side.

Meanwhile, all the preparations for the match had been made but the intermittent rains in Kanpur are posing a problem or two for the ground staff. The brand new ground covers ,however, in the place and the present scenario promises a keenly contested test match.

Also read: Indian team to play 500th Test match in Kanpur