India vs England: Hyderabad pitch a good one but may spin a little bit, says Rahul Dravid

Team India head coach Rahul Dravid believes that the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad would offer a “good wicket” but predicted that the track would begin assisting the spinners as the game progresses. India are slated to take on England in the first Test starting in Hyderabad from Thursday (25 January).

“Hard one to say (nature of pitch). We will have a look once it (match) starts and figure it out. It looks a good one from what I’ve seen,” Dravid said during the pre-match press conference on Thursday.

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“But may spin a little bit. How quickly and how fast, I’m not sure. But it might spin a little bit certainly as the game goes on,” added the 51-year-old.

An official of the Hyderabad Cricket Association, who did not wish to be named, said that despite the match offering something for both the bowlers and batters, the pitch would in fact see some turn.

“We’ve had enough time to prepare the pitch. There will be help for both batsmen and bowlers, but as the match moves on it will turn, but I think, these players are experienced enough to apply themselves and make runs,” the HCA official told news agency PTI.

India have announced the squad for the first two Tests against England in sauch a way that they have an array of spinners. The spin bowling attack will be led by the experienced Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel and Kuldeep Yadav.

England pacer Mark Wood, meanwhile, said that there have been discussions regarding the pitch although there wasn’t nothing much to worry about.

“We’ve discussed the pitch. But I wouldn’t say we discuss it at that length to worry about it. We have enough self-belief in our group that we can do something special. We’ve got spinners, we’ve got seam, we’ve got good batters and we’ve got a good recent history behind us,” said Wood.

Wood, however, said that it was important for his team to adapt to certain conditions.

“We’ll adapt. We’ve got a captain who always wants to take the game forward. So, it should be an entertaining series,” added Wood.