Is Rahul Dravid worried over Lucknow pitch?

Lucknow: Even during his playing days, Indian coach Rahul Dravid never bothered about pitches. But it seems something makes him worry about the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium’s 22 yards. 

Dravid chose to remove the grass on the red clay pitch no. 4 ahead of Sunday's India-England clash in the ODI World Cup.

The last time India played on this ground was against South Africa last October. India not only lost half of its batting on 115 but also failed to chase 249 runs.

As soon as the routine Team India’s optional training session ended at the Ekana B ground, Dravid reached the main stadium and monitored the removal of a green layer at least from the good-length spot from the pitch as curator Sanjeev Agarwal and his team undertook the work for almost 20 minutes just before the covers came up on all the pitches.

“In fact, Dravid didn’t want to take any risk with the pitch this time as during the India vs New Zealand T20Is this January even after picking up a pitch of his choice, India had to struggle against the Kiwis while chasing just 100 runs,” said a UPCA official, who observed Dravid instructing men on the ground, preferring anonymity.

“With no grass in the good length area, it will surely help spinners as well as batters and now I can see a good score on this wicket if Team India bat first after winning the toss,” he said.

“I think when you're in different conditions and different places to play different games, you're always trying to find an edge,” said England Assistant Coach Marcus Trescothick in a pre-match press conference on Saturday. 

“You're trying to find a difference where you think, is this a pitch where we need three seamers or is this a pitch where we need three spinners and match it up that way? The batting has been pretty consistent, obviously, Ben Stokes coming back in and Harry Brook changing. So, I think you've got to adapt. I don't think you can go through any World Cup or any big competition with the same 11 players,” he added.