The Free Press Journal

Eden for Mishra?

Mishra, meanwhile, swung his arm for close to an hour before padding up to face a few balls from the likes of Barinder Sran, Kuldeep Yadav and Jayant Yadav, the replacemen­t for Ishant Sharma, who's

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Team India may have sealed the issue with four bowlers in the first cricket Test in Kanpur but going by early indication­s Amit Mishra is likely to get a call in the playing XI in the second match here as the leg-spinner was seen slugging hard both with ball and bat during practice session, here.

India coach Anil Kumble, himself a legspin legend, had underlined the importance of playing five bowlers and was seen in a long freewheeli­ng chat with former captain Sourav Ganguly now the head of Cricket Associatio­n of Bengal.

The duo saw the wicket and spoke to curator Sujan Mukherjee and as Mishra kept bowling to captain Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Ajinkya Rahane in Wednesday's optional practice session.

As for the pitch, which has mostly remained under cover, it may not turn straightwa­y from day one as India may feel the need for a third spinning option, something that was evident from Mishra's body language at the optional practice today.

Only four India regulars -- Kohli, Rahane, Rohit and Wriddhiman Saha -- turned up for practice while the spin duo of Ravichandr­a Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, who accounted for 16 scalps in India's 197-run win in the first Test in Kanpur, opted for rest.

If Mishra is included, then India might as well stick to the remaining players with either Ajinkya Rahane or Rohit as the likely options for the opening slot vacated by Rahul.

With conditions overcast and muggy, the groundsmen did not take any chance as they kept most of the field covered leaving only the wicket and practice arena open. A win in the second Test will not only seal the threematch series for India but hand Kohli's men the number one position in the Test rankings. India are unbeaten from 12 matches at home which includes 10 victories and two draws since December 2012. -PTI erming himself oldfashion­ed, Kumble said: "In this squad we will only look at what is needed for that playing XI. We have constantly gone with five bowlers but in the last Test we felt an additional batsman was needed."

Rohit is back in his favourite venue where he had scored his ODI world record of 264 and is also back among runs (68 not out) in the second essay in Kanpur after a disappoint­ing outing in the first. Kumble hinted that the Mumbaikar may retain his place, which means injured Lokesh Rahul's replacemen­t Gautam Gambhir may have to wait for his Test return after a gap of two years. "His (Rohit's) batting form in the second innings augurs well for the team. It's not just good for the team but I'm sure it would have done a boost to his confidence," Kumble said. Kumle also put his weigh behind Cheteswar Pujara. We have seen his contributi­on over the years. Even in the last Test we saw the importance of his contributi­on to the team's cause. The beauty about this squad is that there is hardly any pressure on anyone. Yes, there are roles and responsibi­lities. But there is no pressure," he said

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