India ponder options for another turner

Three years ago, Nagpur hosted a Test match that ranked among the dullest in the sport's history. Five uninterrupted days of cricket produced 1008 runs at 2.28 runs an over. Only 23 wickets fell, at a rate of one every 115.52 balls. Run-scoring was difficult, taking wickets even more so. The turn was slow, the bounce was minimal, and edges from the quick bowlers barely carried halfway to the slips.

The pitch didn't deteriorate either. When the match crawled to a close on the fifth evening, England were 352 for 4 in their second innings, the third innings of the match.

On Monday, two days before India's third Test against South Africa, Amar Karlekar, the curator at the VCA Stadium, was at pains to stress that the pitch would not behave like it did in 2012.

"I can give you my guarantee," he said. "No repetition of England episode."

From the distance of around 10m from which mediapersons were allowed to view it, the pitch had a dry look about it, though not the patchwork appearance of the Mohali surface that hosted the first Test. Karlekar said turn would be available from tea onwards, on the first day.

The pitch for the Test has been used twice in the Ranji Trophy this season. Odisha held on for a draw in the first of these matches, after Vidarbha made them follow on. Vidarbha won the other, beating Assam by three wickets in a low-scoring thriller. Spinners took 44 of the 63 wickets that fell across the two matches.

When India arrived for their training session on Monday afternoon, Rohit Sharma was among the first of their players to take a close look at the pitch. When the team finished its customary warm-up game of football - its highlight a flukey Varun Aaron goal from deep within his own half - Rohit was the first batsman to pad up.

For a good portion of India's net session, Rohit and Ajinkya Rahane took turns batting at the same net, one batsman facing a handful of deliveries and turning the strike over, so to speak, to the other. That done, both walked back into the main ground for some catching drills.

First, Rahane fed R Sridhar, India's fielding coach, a sequence of underarm deliveries that he deflected towards Rohit, fielding close in at leg slip. Then Rohit took over underarming duties, with Rahane fielding at first slip, his customary position against the spinners.

A few more players joined this group. Virat Kohli threw balls to Sridhar from a good 15 yards away, and he edged catches for a deep-set cordon of Shikhar Dhawan, Rahane and Rohit at first, second and third slip respectively.

Training sessions two days before a match are not the most reliable indicators of team selection. But from the quantity and quality of time he spent batting and fielding, it seemed as if India were giving a definite thought to including Rohit in their eleven on Wednesday.

Going by the teams they picked in the first two Tests, the one slot open to Rohit is the one occupied by Stuart Binny in Bangalore. Neither the pitch nor the atmospheric conditions - clear, cloud-free skies and low humidity - are likely to aid Binny's medium-pace in Nagpur, which should reduce the value of picking him ahead of a specialist batsman or a third spinner.

Given that Amit Mishra, who played in Mohali but not in Bangalore, spent a decent length of time bowling at the nets, it appeared as if India were exploring one of two options: a straight shootout between Rohit and Mishra to take Binny's place, or play both Rohit and Mishra and leave out one of the two frontline quicks as well.

India went for the latter option in the 2012 Nagpur Test: their attack contained one fast bowler in Ishant Sharma and four spinners in R Ashwin, Pragyan Ojha, Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja on his Test debut. Then, they did not get the pitch they wanted or even expected. Three years on, they might field a similar combination and find conditions rather more to their liking.