Pitch expected to assist seamers initially: Curator

“We have tried to see that there’s good carry for the bowlers throughout. If I was India captain I would field first on winning the toss as the team has the bowlers to exploit the conditions in the first hour or so,” the former Test left-arm bowler said on Wednesday.

“It would be good for the strokemakers too as more shots can be played on the back foot rather than when they are forced to play on the front foot on wickets that afford only knee-high bounce,” he added.

If Parsana, who has overseen the wicket preparation by ground curator Rasik Makwana, is proved right then India look certain to rue the absence of young pacer Ishant Sharma, who was ruled out of the match to give him time to recover from his ankle sprain.

The lanky bowler is here with the team and also took part in the optional net session, skipped by captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni, speedster Zaheer Khan and off spinner Harbhajan Singh, who reached here from Nagpur after defeating Australia in the Test series.

Sharma, man of the series in the recently concluded Tests, moved gingerly on the field and just helped in catching practice to the others.

A team source indicated that even if Sharma had not been nursing an ankle sprain he would not have taken part in the first match since he had bowled a lot of overs in the fourth and final Test against Australia which India won by 172 runs.

“He had bowled a lot of overs at Nagpur and would not have played in this match,” the source said.

In his absence it would be left to Zaheer, Munaf Patel who had to cool off his heels during the Test series against Australia — and Rudra Pratap Singh to exploit whatever help the pitch provides against England who too have a formidable pace attack consisting of Steve Harmison, Andrew Flintoff, Stuart Broad and James Anderson.

Meanwhile, Saurashtra Cricket Association secretary Niranjan Shah said response from the crowd is “not as good as before,” but hoped things would improve in the run-up to the eleventh match to be held in Rajkot.

India have played in nine of them and lost five, including the last tie in early 2007, before the World Cup, when they lost to Sri Lanka by five runs.

They have beaten the Emerald Islanders on two other occasions (1994 and 2005) while notching victories over Zimbabwe and the West Indies in 2000 and 2002.

The four losses before the one against Lanka last year came against Australia (1986), the first ODI here, West Indies (1988), South Africa (1996) and New Zealand (1999).

The only match not involving India, the MRF World Series for the Nehru Cup contested between the West Indies and Sri Lanka in 1989, had gone in the latters favour.

The track here has generally assisted the batsmen with scores of over 300 notched up on four occasions with 349 for nine by New Zealand — India replied with 306 — being the best so far.

There have been three other totals of 260 and above. Incidentally, Saurashtra batsman Cheteshwar Pujara, who has played for India A and is a strong candidate for national colours, recently notched up back-to-back triple hundreds at this venue in the under-22 tournament.

He also got a triple hundred in the ongoing Ranji Trophy tie against Rajasthan but that match is being played at the SCA’s new ground on the outskirts of the city, which is expected to host all international ties once the construction of the stadium gets completed in two years’ time.