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It was a rainy welcome for the Indian team in Manchester on Saturday. Even as the players remained cosy in the confines of their hotel rooms, a small group of Indian fans gathered outside, hoping to catch a glimpse of their favourite cricketers.
With the series on the line, Old Trafford is already a full house for the fourth Test, beginning next Wednesday, despite forecasts of light to moderate rainfall throughout. While India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate indicated that a decision on the playing eleven will be taken after assessing the surface and the conditions, over the last few years, the Old Trafford pitch has been quite effective for wrist-spinners, as the ball has turned the most here among England’s Test grounds.
With former England captain Michael Atherton suggesting that India should bring in three spinners—Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar—in the playing eleven and go with just two pacers, it needs to be seen whether the team management subscribes to the idea.
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“The pitches haven’t had the pace that they used to have. There are a couple of pitches in the end where there’s zing, but in the middle, the televised pitches are just flat, flat, flat. Wrist spin goes well at Old Trafford in some circumstances,” Atherton told Sky Sports Cricket.
The Indian team will have a closed-door training on Sunday afternoon after a considerable gap.
A lot would depend on how the weather holds up for the next few days. If the windy and rainy conditions continue, chances are high that India will field an unchanged fast bowling line-up, spearheaded by Jasprit Bumrah. He will be joined by Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj. Washington and Jadeja will handle the spin departments.
With clarity awaited over the gravity of Arshdeep Singh’s injury, India’s think-tank has some mulling over to do.
