Vizag curator reveals nature of pitch for second India v England Test

Kasturi Sriram, the curator of the 22-yard strip at Vishakapatnam, the venue for the second Test between India and England, has stated that there would be lesser grass on the surface than there was at the Saurashtra Cricket Association in Rajkot.

The latter was on the receiving end of a certain amount of flak when the first Test match tended to a draw and with India having to fight it out on the final day to complete a draw.

Sriram stated that this wicket would be the ‘typical Indian wicket’ one and all expected it to be while the curator went on to add that there was little or no instruction from the preparatory think tank. It was indeed a concern in the first Test at Rajkot wherein the Indian spinners in the form of Ravi Ashwin was rather ineffective, to say the least.

“There will not be much grass and we should expect the ball to turn from lunch on Day 2,” Sriram said adding that there has not been any instruction from the team think tank.

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Sriram also went on to give a quick update on the weather conditions stating that the fluctuation of extremes on the weather could play a role in the preparation of the wicket. “On Sunday, it was cold and on Monday it’s drastically hot and humid and wicket appears dry now. We will see how is it on the eve of the match.”

“We have prepared a neutral wicket and it should assist both the teams equally. We hope to see a result,” ACA secretary and BCCI vice-president G Gangaraju told PTI.

Recently, the curator was under a bit of flak when the wicket prepared for the Ranji Trophy encounter involving Assam was blasted out by Assam coach Sunil Joshi. “The Assam wicket was a different one and some miscommunication had led to that.”