India mull green-top surface for the fourth Test

In the build-up to the tour of South Africa in 2018, India had rolled out a green-top surface with a good bounce against Sri Lanka in Kolkata to prepare themselves for similar conditions in the African country.

The Rohit Sharma-led India are mulling a repeat of the strategy in the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad should they win the third Test in Indore and ensure their place in the World Test Championship final at the Oval in June.

Confirming India's potential plan for the final Test, Rohit said the team has already discussed replicating English conditions to give themselves the best chance to succeed in England.

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"There is definitely a possibility of that (preparing a green-top pitch)," said Rohit to a pointed question. "We need to get the guys ready for it. The important one is Shardul Thakur, because he comes into the planning for us. We don’t know how ready he is since he just got married. But that thought process is definitely there. If we do what we do here and get the result we want, we might think of doing something different in Ahmedabad for sure.”

According to current WTC standings, India and Australia are most likely to meet in the WTC final which will be played from June 7-11, right after the IPL. Sri Lanka have an outside chance of qualifying if they beat New Zealand 2-0 in their upcoming series and hope for India to beat Australia 4-0.

That begs a question as to whether it's just gamesmanship against an already demoralised Australian side or a serious plan?

If it's gamesmanship then it has some logic but if India are genuinely thinking of simulating English conditions then it has to be examined if this makes any cricketing sense. Post the Ahmedabad Test, most of the Indian Test players will be taking part in the two-month long Indian Premier League. Which means they would be playing white-ball cricket on absolute belters, bearing little resemblance to English pitches and conditions. In that case does Ahmedabad objective serve any purpose?

And what if Australia, with skipper Pat Cummins likely to return for the final Test, end up beating India in conditions that will suit their style of attack better? Wouldn't India be handing a psychological advantage to their potential opponents ahead of the marquee ICC event? Rohit doesn't think so.

"It will be a different ball game (facing Australia in England) for both teams," pointed out Rohit. "Actually, I don't want to talk about the World Test Championship. We're not there yet. We have to win this game and then talk about it. That'll be the right thing to do. Just speaking of it from the outside... I don't think England is going to qualify, so both teams who are going to play the final will be neutral teams. It's going to be exciting. There's no home advantage, no conditions advantage. You know India has played a lot of cricket in England over the last couple of years. Australia have also played a lot of cricket there. It's not going to be alien conditions as such whoever makes the final. It'll be a good contest between the two teams, whoever those teams are."