Will Bangalore produce a flat and slow turner?

In Galle a little less than two years ago, an accurate left-arm spinner swept through India in the first Test of a series, taking 7 for 48 to send them crashing to 112 all out in the fourth innings.

In Pune less than a week ago, in conditions even more conducive to spin, another accurate left-arm spinner swept through India in the first Test of a series, returning identical figures of 6 for 35 in both innings to send them crashing to 105 and 107 all out.

India's response to Galle was to win the next two Tests, take the series 2-1, and begin an unbeaten run that stretched to 19 Tests before coming to an end in Pune.

Across the second and third Tests at the P Sara Oval and at the SSC, Rangana Herath took eight wickets at an average of 43.75. India - albeit helped by winning both tosses and not having to bat last - found a way to play him.

Between Pune and Bangalore, the venue for the second Test against Australia, they will probably have formulated plans for Steve O'Keefe as well.

O'Keefe isn't quite Herath. While he benefits as much from accuracy and natural variation, he doesn't bowl with as much guile, doesn't beat batsmen in the air as often. It still remains to be seen what he can do in friendlier batting conditions.

Three days before the second Test, the pitch at the Chinnaswamy Stadium wore a light coating of grass, an even coating barring a bald patch at one end. Conspiracy theorists may have seen in its location - outside the left-handers' off stump - a gift from the groundstaff to R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, but it was perhaps also on too full a length to bother anyone unduly.

Its appearance may change drastically by the first morning, but to all intents and purposes it seemed likely to behave like a normal subcontinental pitch - slowish and good to bat on before breaking up over the last two days.

Until Pune, the pitches through this home season - barring a newly relaid surface in Kolkata that gave the seamers an unusual amount of assistance - were mostly of this kind. The kind of pitches where, against England and Bangladesh, India posted first-innings totals of 488, 455, 417, 631, 759 for 7 declared and 687 for 6 declared.

Pune harked back to the 2015-16 series against South Africa, particularly the Tests in Mohali and Nagpur where India posted totals of 201, 200, 215 and 173 and benefitted perhaps more than they might want to acknowledge from winning the toss. Surfaces that offer as much turn and uneven bounce usually narrow the skill gap between two sets of spinners - India discovered this to their detriment in Pune, but could well have found out as far back as Mohali, November 2015.

As they have shown through this long 2016-17 season, India are perhaps at their best when they can fully test their opponents' physical and mental reserves, when they can keep opposition bowlers out in the sun and test their ability to keep coming back for long spells in good batting conditions. Bangalore could produce that kind of contest.

A long-drawn tussle on a flat, slow turner won't be without its dangers for India, of course. It may heighten the value of Ashwin and Jadeja's skill and know-how while, in theory, limiting the threat of O'Keefe and Nathan Lyon, but it may also leave Mitchell Starc's extra pace as the most dangerous weapon on either side. Australia, moreover, will relish batting on a flat first-innings pitch as much as India.

The same set of hypotheses may well have led India to conclude that they needed to start the series on a square turner. Having tried that approach and come up short, they now seem prepared to try an entirely different and, against these particular opponents, no less risky one.