London [UK], June10 : Josh Marden, the head curator at Beckenham County Ground, revealed that India head coach Gautam Gambhir and the management had a clear message regarding their preparations for the highly anticipated England tour: "We want a good pitch", reported Revsportz.
India has begun fine-tuning its preparations for the five gripping Tests in England, which are slated to begin on June 20 at Headingley. The tourists have hosted a training camp at the South East London venue in Beckenham as they solidify their preparations for the first bilateral Test series without its batting bigwigs Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, marking the beginning of a new era.
After the internal meeting, Gambhir and the coaching staff spoke to Marden and sent a clear message about the desired pitch conditions. The ask was simple: "a good pitch" that wasn't too flat or too green, a realistic setting that genuinely offered help in preparing for the match.
"Yes, the coaching staff, including Gautam Gambhir and others, spoke to us after their internal meeting. Their message was clear: "We want a good pitch." Not something too flat or too green, but something that will genuinely help with match preparation. They wanted more realistic conditions, not just batting drills. So we adjusted a few things, grass cover, net width, and length extensions. The feedback has been great since then," Marden told Revsportz.
Traditionally, the strip India is training on has been a batting paradise in white-ball formats. To make it more ideal for a red-ball setup, Harden outlined the various measures they have taken to offer "enough life" for the seamers.
"Yes, and no. The soil here naturally plays batter-friendly, so visually, the wicket may look dry or flat. But we manage grass density, not just what you see, but how thick it is. The pitches currently used by India and Australia have slightly more grass than our usual white-ball surfaces. It's a subtle balance. Even with a brown surface, there's enough life in it for seamers, if you hit the right length," he added.
India Squad: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc, wk), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudarshan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
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