Pacers likely to dominate early on in Kolkata – MS Dhoni – Cricket News Update
Indian skipper http://www.senore.com/Cricket/England-c56013 beginning today, reckons the pitch would not assist the spinners much initially, and is hoping for the pacers to dominate on the first two days of the five-day encounter.
"The wicket looks good. We will have to see how the pitch behaves. It depends a lot on the clay content. It won't help the spinner much initially," Dhoni said on Tuesday at the customary pre-match press conference on the eve of the third Test at Eden Gardens.
"Fast bowlers this time of the year get some help initially. The role of fast bowlers will be very crucial in this game," added the home skipper.
Spinners from both the camps have dominated the series so far. In the series opener at Ahmedabad it was the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/R-Ashwin-c2228 duo that ripped apart the English batting line up, sharing 13 wickets between them, to hand the home side a nine-wicket win.
In the second Test at the Wankhede Stadium in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/GP-Swann-c1501 claimed 19 of the total twenty Indian wickets to help England make a strong come back into the series with a ten-wicket win.
Despite the turning Wankhede wicket bouncing back at the hosts, Dhoni insisted that he wanted the Kolkata pitch to turn from day-one. After Prabir Mukherjee, the veteran Eden Gardens curator refused to consider Dhoni’s request for a square turner, the BCCI stopped him from working on the track, bringing in a relatively less experienced curator to meet the home skipper’s demands.
However, Dhoni said on the eve of the match that the track is expected to favour fast bowlers early on, and going by the nature of the wicket the hosts played a three-pronged pace attack, picking up http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Harbhajan-Singh-c61453.
The Ranchi wicketkeeper batsman also defended his demand for a turning track, saying the home side had the right to exploit the home advantage. "When we come to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750, we want to play on turning tracks. We want to play on wickets that suit the subcontinent."
Dhoni did not agree that the 10-wicket defeat in the second Test at Mumbai on a spinning wicket nixed his theory.
"Home advantage is a big part of the game. If you don't take home advantage, then what is the use of playing around the world, in different conditions?" argued Dhoni.
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