India could be “tempted” to field two spinners in Thursday’s second Test at Lord’s, Virat Kohli has stated. The pitch wore a coat of green on match-eve but the surface is expected to be dry underneath.
“It’s a tempting thought,” Kohli said. “The pitch looked very hard, the surface looked very dry. It has been very hot in London for the last couple of months. There is good grass cover in it and that is required basically to keep the wicket together, otherwise it is going to be very difficult to hold it together.”
The Indian captain added: “The pitch is going to be all-round: if batsmen bat well, they can get runs; obviously the Dukes ball [will swing] in overcast conditions; and when the wicket wears off the spinners can come in. It’s a tempting thought to field two spinners but we have to take a call on that depending on the team balance. But two spinners are definitely in contention.”
His counterpart, Joe Root, was not certain if it would be a good idea but was still keeping his options open. England named a 12-member side on Wednesday, with Jamie Porter left out. “I’m not sure, having played quite a lot here, if it [the pitch] will change a huge amount. But we just want to make sure, be really clear, that going into the game we can be really confident we’ve got the best 11 players to take 20 wickets on that surface. So we’ll turn up tomorrow, see if it looks any different, and then make that decision,” he said.
