Shocked by a huge defeat by 227 runs in the opening test of the four match series for the Anthony De Mello trophy, the Indian cricket team has sounded a spin warning for visiting team England as they look to bounce back and level the series.
India were outgunned by a better prepared and well executing England side earlier this week in what turned out to be a one-sided contest after Joe Root and Co. batted for first two days of the test to put on a huge total of 578 in the first innings and dominated the home team for the remainder of the match.
This was only the second defeat for India in the last eight or nine years playing at home—with 333 run defeat against Australia at Pune in 2017 being their first—as Virat Kohli and company are desperate to level the series.
India vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane, who has been struggling for runs on sort of a consistent basis, has declared that the contest will be played on a turning wicket and it will be expected that the pitch starts assisting spinners from the first session of the opening day itself.
“It (pitch) will be completely different. I am sure it will turn from day number one but again as I said before the first Test match, we will have to wait and see how it plays in the first session and then take it from there. We have to forget what happened in the first Test match and focus on this and play good cricket. We know these conditions very well. We have to put our best foot forward tomorrow and play as a team,”
Rahane told the media during the pre-match press conference ahead of the Test.
England have rested their lead fast bowler James Anderson who played a crucial role in their victory in the first Test, along with off-spinner Dom Bess, wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler whereas the likes of fast bowler Stuart Broad, Olly Stone, Moeen Ali and wicketkeeper-batsman Ben Foakes have been added into the 12 man squad for the second test starting on Saturday.
