India vs Australia: Indore Pitch Will Be Helpful For Wrist Spinners, Says Pitch Curator

Virat Kohli-led India will look to fancy their chances of attaining an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match One-Day International (ODI) series when they take on Australia for the third ODI at Holkar Stadium, Indore on September 24. As India's newest spin twins Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal are proving to be lethal and unplayable for the visitors, Holkar Stadium's pitch curator Samandar Singh Chauhan, on Friday, said that the track will prove to be belter but at the same time will be helpful for the spinners too. The Madhya Pradesh CA curator further added that the pitch won't crumble and hence only the wrist spinners will be able to make an impact. "We have used black cotton soil, brought from different parts of Madhya Pradesh. In this weather, it won't crumble and it won't be very dry. It has capacity to hold water but it will be good for the wrist spinners," Chauhan said. The Australian batsmen have struggled against India's spinners Kuldeep and Chahal in the first two matches with the former becoming only the third Indian to take a hat-trick in ODIs. "We had used this pitch for a two-day match between the players of our Ranji players. Ninety overs were bowled on both days on September 7 and 8 and good runs were scored. It should be a high scoring game," Chauhan added. Holkar stadium has been a happy hunting ground for Indian batsmen as Virender Sehwag had struck his career-best ODI score of 219 against the West Indies in December 2011. India captain Virat Kohli had hit a double hundred (211) against New Zealand in the first innings of the third Test here last year and Ajinkya Rahane had scored 188 in the same innings. Before the start of the series, it was said that 300-plus score would be norm but the first two matches have not seen that happening. The city has also been experiencing rain in the last few days. There is forecast of sporadic showers during the next two days. The ground was kept under covers after a heavy downpour from last midnight till Friday afternoon. However, a strong drainage system in place means that a ground staff of 80 people can get the field ready for play in an hour even after a strong spell of rain. "We are equipped with three super soppers, 12 sump well -- each having 60-feet deep boring - and 48 100-feet borewells to make the ground ready," Chauhan, who has been associated with MPCA for the last 22 years, said. The first match in Chennai was a truncated affair and in Kolkata as well the rain had interrupted the match for a brief period. The MPCA officials indicated that if there is bright sunshine on Sunday, batting first will be the order of the day whichever skipper wins the toss. (With PTI inputs)