India net session: Lines drawn for pitch-ed battle in 3rd Test to ‘turn’ fortunes around

Unexpectedly fallen behind 0-2 in a home series, the Indian team has adopted some desperate measures to improve its batters’ outing against spot-on New Zealand bowlers, especially the spinners, as talks about a rank-turner for the third Test here has dominated the pre-match talks.

The net session at the Wankhede Stadium reflected the state of urgency the team management is in ahead of the final Test beginning on Friday, as even veteran batters like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have found the going tough in this rubber.

Ahead of the nets, they asked the staff to draw extended white lines along off and leg stumps at four practice nets, an exercise generally aimed at keeping batters aware of the line and lengths.

In the first Test at Bengaluru, the vaunted Indian batting line-up succumbed to the probing line and bounce, and in the second match at Pune they were outwitted by left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner, who took 13 wickets across two innings.

More than the conventional spin, the Indian batters had no solution to Santner's deliveries that pitched on the same spot at the MCA Stadium track but offered different results – some turning away while some straightening up.

So, it was clear that head coach Gautam Gambhir wanted his batters to enter the final Test with better preparation.

India’s assistant coach Abhishek Nayar gave a peek into the struggles of his wards, and said keeping a close watch on the spinners’ hands is important.

“You need to understand when certain balls are turning, certain balls are going straight, it tends to play with your mind.

At that point, it's really important for a batter to understand how the ball is coming out of the hand, which balls are undercutting, which balls are over-spinning,” Nayar offered in the press meet.

Along with the technical nous, Nayar said, a batter should be able to tackle such a situation mentally as well.

“When that tends to happen, sometimes it can be intimidating when you see a ball turning and going straight on. When you play domestic cricket, you play on black soil pitches.

“But sometimes the conditions and the position that you are, the form that you are in, can get the better out of you. But you need to focus a little harder,” Nayar added.

For that, they summoned a retinue of net bowlers, 25 no less, with a good mix of local spinners and pacers who helped the senior players to go through their paces for the next three hours or so.

Almost every member of the Indian contingent had a long hit in the nets, including Mohammed Siraj, who played with Virat Kohli’s bat while unleashing a few big hits.

So, is it really a Bunsen burner on offer in Mumbai? While pitch reading is not a perfect art, the signs point to that.

The surface had a good grass cover in the morning, but it was soon battered down by a heavy roller, often believed to suck out moisture from the surface, which was operated across the pitch, particularly in the middle portion.

The ground staff, which had done light sprinkling of water on the surface, later switched to using a light roller for a short while before marking the creases and the pitch remained under cover as the sun baked down.