Ahmedabad track will help slow bowlers – MS Dhoni
India captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/MS-Dhoni-c2028 feels that Ahmedabad track would be spin-friendly helping the home side beat thrashed Kiwis in the first Test of the three-match series starting on Thursday.
After a practice session in the nets at the Sardar Patel stadium on Wednesday, the Indian skipper said, "There does not seem to be much grass on the pitch and I hope it helps the slow bowlers."
The home side, coming off a 2-0 win over http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754, on the other hand, are
fresh from surprising 4-0 whitewash in a five-match limited-over series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Bangladesh-c747 last month.
Dhoni further added that the grass on the pitch is a lot less than it was against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in 2008, however, he said that at the moment is quite difficult to say what to expect from the track.
The Ahmedabad pitch was a batting-friendly track until one with grass was prepared for the five-dayers against the Proteas in 2008. The track with the grass favoured express pacers remarkably and the South African paceman http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Dale-c52110 Steyn scythed
through the Indian batting line-up, ruling out the home side for a meagre 76 in the first innings – a match that http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 lost by an innings and 90 runs.
However, the match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 on the same pitch last year finished in a tame draw on a passive track.
Dhiraj Parsana, curator of the Sardar Patel stadium, has also tipped the track to be spinner friendly for the major part of the game.
"This pitch should be a more sporting one," said Parsana. "It will help seamers a little bit early in the match but spinners are likely to dominate on the last two days."
India has a busy season waiting for them as it is due to visit South Africa in December-January ahead of the next year’s World Cup which will be hosted by three subcontinent nations and India is also one of them.
Dhoni said New Zealand should not be taken as an easy opposition because of their defeats against Bangladesh.
The match would start tomorrow at 04:00 GMT while the remaining two Tests would be hosted by http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Hyderabad-c792 and Nagpur. The Test series will be followed by five One Day Internationals.
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