TimesofIndia.com in London: Well before India’s first training session at the Lord’s Cricket Ground got underway on Tuesday morning, the support staff, led by head coach Gautam Gambhir, was in a huddle near the playing surface. There was a fresh tinge of green on the 22 yards, and all of them – from bowling coach Morne Morkel to batting coach Sitanshu Kotak – did numerous rounds of firmness checks. As they stood on the practice pitches, the ground staff swung into action and some grass was shaved off the surface to make it brighter than how it was on first impression.The treatment on the square and the pitch continued as the team practiced in the nets and there was generous watering to keep it fresh under the sun. The grass could be trimmed further on eve of the game but the pitch promises to have more life than what Headingley and Edgbaston offered. Jasprit Bumrah, in conversation with the ground staff, compared the two surfaces to Nagpur and Kanpur when he was bowling in the nets.
Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Will this be more of the same? Quite possible as the game progresses but there will be more life on the opening day, in the first two sessions at least. Similar trend was followed during the World Test Championship Final as four Australia batters were dismissed within the first 25 overs.“There is little green in the wicket. It’s more than what we saw in the last two matches. But tomorrow, when they will make the final cut, the last cutting they do the day before the match, after that we can talk. And generally, the Lord’s… The scores of the first and second innings are comparatively low. So, we can expect that it will be helpful for bowlers,” said India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.
TimesofIndia.com at Lord’s (Photo by Sahil Malhotra)
Past trends, green tinge and the eight feet slope means India batters will face their first real challenge at Lord’s after comfortable batting conditions in Leeds and Birmingham, respectively. Many will be playing their first fixture at the Home of Cricket as only Ravindra Jadeja (twice), KL Rahul (twice) and Rishabh Pant (once) have played here before. The iconic venue brings along some challenges which require minor adjustments as far as a batting group is concerned.The eight feet slope runs down from the Pavillion End to the nursery end, and adjustment remains the key word. To the naked eye, you can hardly spot any difference but there is a substantial one. While batting from the Pavillion End, the ball moves away from the right-hander more than usual because of the slope and the nursery end sees some exaggerated movement into the right-handers. There are similar challenges for the bowlers, too, but as far as batting is concerned, a few minor adjustments help to ace the conditions and be ready for the challenges thrown at them.
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Many batters who have played here have done minor tweaks to their guard for the two ends to counter the inward and outward movement on offer. That slope means there are scoring opportunities on offer but staying tight and compact will allow the batters to last and dominate for longer periods. Kotak felt countering the slope is more of a mindset thing as many batters deal with it as a “natural variation”.“It depends on the mindset. I have seen some players saying that they don’t understand the slope. And some players feel that there are natural variations. Obviously, because of the slope, there will be some variations. But, after hitting the seam, there are some variations. So, we cannot keep it in mind. But, again, we talk about adapting the conditions that come into play,” explained Kotak.India batters have enjoyed their time in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy so far and how they deal with the Lord’s slope could well decide whether the series goes uphill or downhill from London for them.
