BANGALORE, Aug 30:
Seeking to complete a whitewash, India would again rely on the guile and skill of their spinners when they take on a hapless New Zealand in the second and final cricket Test starting here tomorrow.
A 2-0 triumph would go a long way in erasing the bitter memories of previous season during which India were routed 4-0 by both England and Australia when they toured there.
The Indians have bounced back in style this season by outplaying New Zealand inside four days in a lop-sided opening Test on the turning track of Hyderabad.
Thoroughly outplayed in Hyderabad, the Kiwis will be hoping to find a way to counter the Indian spinners in the match which was expected to be affected by the inclement weather prevailing here for the past few days.
Though Chinnaswamy curator Narayan Raju talked about a tinge of grass available on the pitch, the New Zealand think tank doesn’t hope for spin respite. They expect groundsmen to shave the pitch off and make sure it is dry.
The inability of the New Zealand batsmen to handle spin was exposed in Hyderabad where 18 of their 20 wickets fell to tweakers.
The Squads:
India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Subramaniam Badrinath, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ravichandran Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Pragyan Ojha, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Piyush Chawla, Ishant Sharma, Suresh Raina.
New Zealand (from): Ross Taylor (captain), Trent Boult, Doug Bracewell, Daniel Flynn, James Franklin, Martin Guptill, Chris Martin, Brendon McCullum, Tarun Nethula, Jeetan Patel, Tim Southee, Kruger van Wyk, Neil Wagner, Bradley-John Watling, Kane Williamson.
Match starts at 9.30 am (IST). (PTI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel