BCCI says 'yes' to Dhoni's demand for spin tracks
Some lauded Indian skipper MS Dhoni while some criticised him for asking for a rank turner in Mumbai. But what would matter to Dhoni is that BCCI is listening. And it seems that the Board has sent out a message to the curators to prepare pitches the captain wants.
- NDTVSports
- Updated: November 22, 2012 07:55 AM IST
Some lauded Indian skipper MS Dhoni while some criticised him for asking for a rank turner in Mumbai. But what would matter to Dhoni is that BCCI is listening. And it seems that the Board has sent out a message to the curators to prepare pitches the captain wants.
The Indian board has backed their skipper and has asked the state associations to prepare rank turners for the remaining three Tests & two T20s vs England. And MSD got further support from former India captain Dilip Vengsarkar.
"It's up to the home team and they should get the advantage. They must play to their strength and he (Dhoni) feels that (Pragyan) Ojha and (Ravichandran) Ashwin are his strengths," Vengsarkar.
And if Mumbai cricket association officials are to be believed, Alastair Cook & Co will play on a pitch that will probably have more bite than they can handle.
However India's tactics could backfire as they nearly did in 2004. After asking for a rank turner India sneaked through for a win despite the 6 wickets picked up by part time spinner Michael Clarke. But this time around things could be different given the class of Graeme Swann.
And if England include Monty Panesar for the second Test, a spinning track could go against India. The left arm spinner is expected to be picked after England's Director of Cricket Andy Flower accepted that dropping Panesar was a mistake.