Vizag pitch will have no grass, should aid spinners, says pitch curator

After the first Test at the SCA ground in Rajkot ended in a draw, the presence of grass on the pitch has led to a lot of discussions as the Indian spinners struggled to extract too much turn from it. The pitch was expected to wear out after the first three days, but the grass stayed on the surface with Indian skipper Virat Kohli expressing his surprise after seeing the green pitch on the final day. 

But the curator at the Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium, Visakhapatnam, where the second Test is going to take place, indicated that the surface will be free of grass.

"There will not be much grass and we should expect the ball to turn from lunch on Day 2," Kasturi Sriram, the pitch curator told PTI.

"Yesterday, it was cold and today it's drastically hot and humid and wicket appears dry now. We will see how is it on the eve of the match," Sriram added.

With the venue set to host its first international Test, ACA secretary Gokaraju Gangaraju was hopeful that the wicket will lead to a competitive Test match.

"We have prepared a neutral wicket and it should assist both the teams equally. We hope to see a result," he said on Monday.

The Vizag pitch, which hosted the fifth and final ODI between Indian and New Zealand, was investigated by the BCCI after Assam's Ranji team complained about the poor conditions of the pitch.

The second Test match between India and England will start on Thursday, 17 November, 9:30 AM

at the ACA-VDCA Cricket Stadium.