Reddy, Badoni jostle for Sundar’s spot at batting-friendly Rajkot

Gujarat's festive spirit shines as 29,000 fans gather for the ODI in Rajkot, with India confident despite missing key players against a young NZ team.

Rajkot: It’s that time of the year when Gujarat is high on festive spirit. When the sky is covered with kites, flown early in the day to catch the pre-dawn wind, and lanterns light up the night, setting up a social congregation over til-laddu and fafda.

Ayush Badoni received his maiden India call-up as a replacement for Washington Sundar who has been ruled out due to injury. (PTI)

Count 29,000 enthusiasts out, with the men in blue in town on kite-flying day. The Ro-Ko attraction should still be able to pull in the crowds. “We are sold to capacity,” said Niranjan Shah, the octogenarian former BCCI secretary whose name the Rajkot stadium that will host the second ODI against New Zealand carries.

The pitch here has been equated to the Jamnagar highway that leads up to the stadium, built in Khandheri, a village in Rajkot’s Paddhari taluka. Three of the previous four ODIs here saw five scores in excess of 300. This notion of the Rajkot surface being a flat deck had extended Cheteshwar Pujara’s wait for a Test debut despite his heavy scoring in domestic cricket.

Having a batting-friendly venue though sits perfectly well with the Indian crowds, who would much rather have Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli regale them with pulls and cover drives than appreciate a lifter from Mohammed Siraj that tests both ends of the bat.

The batting stalwarts disappointed a sizeable crowd that assembled on Tuesday in anticipation of watching them go in net sessions. Their opting to rest from training wasn’t just their respecting the ageing bodies, it also showed how confident they were of their bat flow.

“Rohit and Virat share their experience a lot. They do talk with Gautam (Gambhir) as well about ODI cricket and our plans going to South Africa,” India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak told reporters. “Obviously in social media, you see a lot of things, but what I see is this.”

Practice wasn’t optional for Shubman Gill. The ODI captain has his battles to fight and is the kind of batter who prefers the extra net session before feeling ready for action.

Nitish, Badoni audition

Bowling to Gill were Nitish Reddy and Ayush Badoni. Both rolled their arm over before they batted in adjacent nets, knowing well that this was more like an audition, with only one of them likely to play. Badoni’s selection despite modest List A numbers (693 runs at avg 36.47 and 18 wickets at avg 29.72) shows the premium all-round skills command in the current Indian set up with no sixth bowling option among batters. Dhruv Jurel too is in the squad, called up as replacement for the injured Rishabh Pant.

India is without Washington Sundar, who was ruled out of the series after the rib injury suffered in Vadodara. The spin allrounder has been playing the floater in Hardik Pandya’s absence to provide balance in the eleven, sometimes even batting down at No.7. Washington’s absence is more likely to finally open the door for Reddy, who has had to warm the bench for far too long.

Old ball tactics

One of the talking points has been the change in ODI playing conditions where the use of one of the two balls is allowed after the 34th over.

“Up to 42 overs it is the same, because we are used to having 25 overs’ used ball, anyway,” said Kotak. “But after that, that ball will be old. And we plan and discuss if we should keep going, depending on the wicket and how much the ball will get rough.”

A switch in strategy, not just in batting tempo and acceleration but also in the use of bowling resources, has been considered by teams. If the ball does reverse significantly during the death overs, not just yorker lengths but those with old-ball skills too may be able to stake their claim.

For New Zealand, this series is a stiff task, with a lot of their first choice players unavailable for different reasons. Their bowling is hopelessly inexperienced against a team full of batting heavyweights in what are foreign conditions, but they will take heart from the manner in which they could stretch the hosts until the penultimate over of the match – the peerless Kiwi spirit coming to the fore.

“For some of us older guys, we have become quite immune to the noise,” Daryll Mitchell said about big Indian crowds. “But to see the faces of the younger guys, you could see how excited they are. It reminds us of how lucky we are to be playing in this part of the world. It’s seriously cool when you have 50,000 Indian fans against you, and when you can find ways to silence them, it is always fun.”