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 Indian coach John Wright has given the green light to Tinu Yohannan and the Kerala speedster is expected to form a part of the bowling line-up in the second cricket Test against New Zealand starting Thursday at Hamilton. “Tinu is coming on very well. He bowled well in the warm-up game also. It was a difficult decision for this game but he would have to be in the running for the next Test,” said Wright after his side went through a rigorous practice session at Basin Reserve this morning.
Indians were out there in strength today at around the time they would have arrived on a Test morning, only the first match at this venue was already over in less than three days yesterday. “One of the good things about this session this morning is that Tinu bowled very well,” said Wright. “If we can do the job with the ball and play to our potential in Hamilton, it gives us a chance.” Ashish Nehra and Ajit Agarkar, the two support medium-pacers to Zaheer Khan, appeared below par in the first Test with just a wicket between them on a pitch particularly friendly to pace bowlers.
India’s task in deciding who to drop in the second and final Test seems to have been made easy by injury to medium-pacer Ajit Agarkar, whose nail of the middle right finger was smashed while batting in the Test and he could not feel any sensation in it. He was there at the practice session though along with the rest of the team. Yohannan is the first player ever from Kerala to represent India in Test cricket though he has not had a look-in since he played the second Test at Ahmedabad against England last December. Yohannan has been an essential part of India’s touring brigade to the West Indies, England and Sri Lanka this year but largely bowled in the nets and was not tried in Tests.
Sanjay Bangar, India’s one seamer who performed creditably in the Wellington Test, also had an injury scare when he was hit on his right finger by a Bond delivery during India’s second innings. Bangar needed to be taken to a doctor to ascertain if there was a fracture but his fears were allayed when it was found he only had a bad bruise. Wright said it was important his side gets back into the swing of things as quickly as possible. “Because it is a two-match Test series, the opportunity of winning the Test series is gone. They are different conditions out here than the wickets we are used to and they have certainly seamed a lot more. We’ve got to get used to these conditions.” |
