Going in to a venue at which their spinners have enjoyed success and with
the intention of playing five bowlers, India are struggling to determine
who those five will be. Ishant Sharma has finger and toe injuries, RP
Singh remains a concern despite recovering from a hamstring injury and
Anil Kumble is struggling with a groin niggle.
It is likely that India will play Sreesanth and Irfan Pathan as the pace
quotient, followed by Kumble, subject to a fitness test on the morning of
the second Test, Harbhajan Singh and Piyush Chawla. If Kumble does not
make the cut then it's a toss-up between risking a clearly out-of-sorts RP
Singh or using four bowlers with Yuvraj Singh slipping in at No. 6. Kumble
confirmed that VVS Laxman would move to No. 4 in Sachin Tendulkar's
absence but the batting is not a real worry.
Kumble was distinctly grim as he addressed the press after a two-hour
session, perhaps a reflection of his predicament going into the second
Test. "We just have to wait and we'll take a call tomorrow morning," he
said. "There are a couple injury concerns. Whatever combination we have,
we have enough potential and quality to do the job. We have worked out
some plans to ensure that we put pressure on the South Africans and get
the right result. But the injuries are a concern."
Kumble bowled in the nets, from his proper run-up, but it was evident he
was not fully fit. If Kumble, who has 35 wickets in six Tests in
Ahmedabad, does not play India will lack a truly potent spinner. Harbhajan
took eight wickets in Chennai but his bowling, once flighty and bouncy,
has slipped into flat, fast offbreaks pitched on middle and leg. The way Younis
Khan handled him, when Pakistan toured last year - repeatedly
reverse-sweeping, even when on 99 - was perhaps the best example of how
Harbhajan has disintegrated.
If Kumble plays it will be the 50th time that he and Harbhajan will play
together in a Test. The last time they combined in Ahmedabad they shared
17 wickets to help beat Sri Lanka
by 259 runs. In Tests played together
here they've accounted for 51 wickets. Their success together goes back
farther than that, however, and India need the two to work in tandem.
RP, whose fielding in Chennai was below par, bowled in a limited capacity
and is a highly unlikely starter. India's physio, Paul Close, had long
chats with both Sreesanth - who took it lightly during a brief spell in
hot conditions - and RP and it remains to be seen what hard work has been
put in the short gap between Tests.
The venues for India's last three Tests at home have produced utterly
paata tracks and as the bandwagon moves west to Ahmedabad, head curator
Dhiraj Parsana's
take
on the pitch take further importance against a most discouraging trend
of high-scoring draws in India over the last five years.
|
|

Given the history of breaking pitches India will certainly play Piyush Chawla
© AFP
|
|
|
Kumble chose not to comment on the Motera track, maintaining that there
were "too many questions and too few answers" but given the history of
breaking pitches India will certainly play Chawla. Chawla was under-bowled
in his only Test, against England in 2006, bowling only 14.1 overs but has
some one-day success against South Africa. Under the captaincy of Ajit
Wadekar and Mohammad Azharuddin, India frequently played three spinners on
tracks made at their behest but not since the mid-1990s have they enjoyed
success with three slow bowlers. Kumble, Venkatapathy Raju and Rajesh
Chauhan formed a formidable trio on true dustbowls; Chauhan never featured
in a lost Test in 21 appearances.
This, however, is a different situation and there's no ignoring that India
have failed to bowl out sides on the fifth day frequently in the last two
years. Minus Kumble and with Chawla just one Test old, they could struggle
against a side that has improved against spin excellently.