India vs West Indies: Looking to play on tracks that help...: Indian skipper Shubman Gill on pitches for home Tests against the Caribbeans

The Indian skipper said that his team was looking to play on pitches that offer something to both the batters and the bowlers.

Ahmedabad: India may have lost their last home series 0-3 to New Zealand, but it’s no doubt an aberration. Prior to that debacle, India were literally unbeatable at their own bastion, as they won 18 consecutive series between 2012 and 2024. Even before that, India were a force to reckon with at home, with very few sides besting them.

This is the legacy that will be weighing heavily on the shoulders of Shubham Gill, set to lead Team India in a home series for the first time, and his largely young brigade as they take on the West Indies in the opening Test of the two-match series starting Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium here. Gill, completely aware of the history, said the focus is to play good, hard cricket.

“We are looking to playing some hard cricket,” said Gill at the pre-match press conference on Wednesday. “The Test matches in India don’t really go up to five days. So what we are really looking to do is to play some more hard cricket. All the Test matches that we played in England went pretty deep. What people can expect from us is good, hard kind of cricket. We are not looking forward to any easy matches, and we have the players with the skill sets to play in any kind of situation. The kind of talent we have in the team, we can turn around from any situation.”

During Virat Kohli’s reign between 2014 and 2022, India were notorious for playing a host of matches on turning tracks as they sought to extract maximum gain from the home advantage. When asked what sort of pitches he would like to play on since he’s in a position to ask for it, the diplomatic Gill said he’s looking forward to competitive surfaces that offer something for all.

“I can’t really speak about the past, but we are looking to play on pitches that offer something to both the batters and the bowlers. Any team that comes to India knows the challenge is in playing spin and reverse swing. If teams can play spin well and bowl reverse swing well, they are going to get good success. Keeping these challenges in mind, we are looking forward to playing on surfaces that offer something for both the batters and bowlers.”

Gill arrives for the Test having played the Asia Cup in T20 format for about a month and barely any turnaround time to make the switch to Test. Gill, who played in the victorious final against Pakistan on Sunday, admitted it’s tough to make the transition in such a short time but said he’s game for the challenge.

“We had a couple of days of practice before the Test match, so yes, it was a quick turnaround. I was just looking to work on defence and trying to get in the zone. I think switching formats is more mental than it is about technique. When you go from the shortest to the longest, it’s the hardest. It’s probably easy going from Test to T20s. As a batter, in Test, you just have to figure out which areas you want to defend and which areas you want to attack. Then it all depends on how much patience you have to stick to that process.”