The Indian team management prefers to keep cards close to their chest when it comes to selection and Playing XI matters but Rohit Sharma hinted at the possibility of playing three spinners in the fixture vs Australia on Sunday. The toss-up for the No.8 spot was always going to be between Shardul Thakur and R Ashwin and it seems the local boy is likely to get a nod for the surface and conditions expected to offer purchase to spinners.
More than the conditions and the surface, it’s Hardik Pandya who not only gives the team an advantage but also allows the “luxury of playing three spinners and three seamers”. For the captain, Pandya is not just a seamer but a “proper fast bowler”.
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“Yeah, I mean that’s the luxury we have where we can afford to play three spinners because I don’t really consider Hardik Pandya as just a seamer. He’s a proper fast bowler, who can crank up good speed. So that gives us an advantage.
“That gives us that luxury of playing three spinners and three seamers as well you know so there’s a possibility that we can play three spinners on this pitch with three seamers as well, so it gives us that balance gives us that number eight batting option as well, so yeah like I said will we have to come here again tomorrow afternoon and see what the pitch looks like but yeah, three spinners is definitely an option,” says Rohit at pre-match presser in Chennai.
The two teams played at the same venue in a bilateral ODI back in March where spin played a major role for both sides. The hosts fell short on that occasion and Rohit expects conditions to be similar for tomorrow’s fixture. There is some respite from the humidity the team experienced in March but it continues to be hot.
“I think quite similar. Although in March it was quite hot, I don’t think it is that hot now. We trained yesterday in the evening and we trained the day before in the afternoon. So pretty much felt the conditions were a lot better than what it was in March. March was quite humid and hot. It is hot but it is not that humid. It’s slightly better,” says Rohit.
As far as the pitch is concerned, Rohit wants to see how it looks on match day. The skipper says the “colour of the pitch changes quite a lot here” and wants to wait till match day and make their plans accordingly. More than the Playing XI call, it will be about plans for batters and bowlers.
“But the pitch I think I don’t know. We still have to wait and see how it looks on match day because the colour of the pitch changes quite a lot here. So, we will wait on that match day and see what we need to do because that is something that we always do in India.
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“We come on the match day and obviously not decide the playing XI, but the guys, the bowlers who are going to play, the batters who are going to bat, they have their way of going about what sort of shots I want to play on this pitch, what sort of length and lines I need to bowl on the pitch like that. So, everyone has their own way of looking at how they want to prepare for that particular game. But yeah, we’ll come here tomorrow and see what it is like, because in India every day, it’s a new day and everything changes every day,” says Rohit.
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