Rajkot (Gujarat): India are up against England in a five-match bilateral series currently and the third Test of the series will be played from Thursday here. Ahead of the Test, Indian spinner Kuldeep Yadav has remarked that the Rajkot will be a better surface to play as compared to tracks which are spin-friendly.
The series is levelled at 1-1 currently and the two matches played so far weren't hosted on rank turners for which Indian soil is quite popular. While England won the first played in Hyderabad, India led by Rohit Sharma bounced back in style to win the second Test played at Visakhapatnam.
While the spinners generated a significant amount of spin in the first game at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, it dwindled in the second Test and there wasn't much for the spinners.
"When we say it is going to be a batting (friendly) wicket, we do not mean that 700-800 runs will be scored here, but it will be a better wicket compared to playing on a rank turner," Kuldeep Yadav said during the pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Quizzed on why there haven't been any rank turners in the series so far, Kuldeep remarked that for good cricket it is important that the wickets are good. "I have no idea. I haven't played on rank turners. I did not play in the last series (Border-Gavaskar series in February-March last year) at home," the Uttar Pradesh spinner replied when asked why there were no rank turners for the first two Tests.
"I do not know what our approach or thinking would be. It is basically the team management's decision. Obviously, all of you also want to watch good cricket. For good cricket, it's important (that the wickets are good)," he added.
When the chinaman was asked about whether rank turners should be produced for home fixtures, he stayed non-committal. "I do not know that, I enjoy playing, whenever I get an opportunity to play, whether it is on a flat track or on a rank turner...batting too is important for us, not just spin bowling," he quipped.
The series between India and England is levelled at 1-1 right now with both sides having an opportunity to take the lead in the series.
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