India may have lost their first home Test series since 2013, but the team management seems to have asked for a 'rank turner' at Wankhede for the third Test against New Zealand, which begins on November 1.
India lost the first Test in Bengaluru by eight wickets, and went on to lose the second match in Pune by 113 runs. Left-arm spinner Mitchell Santner was adjudged the player of the match for his match haul of 13 wickets. India lost 19 of their 20 wickets to spinners in the Pune Test.
Despite the recent setbacks against spinners in home series, a report in The Indian Express quoted a source as saying that the Mumbai Cricket Association has been asked to prepare a pitch that will help spinners from day one.
The Wankhede pitch has traditionally been helpful for the spinners. In five Tests there, Ravichandran Ashwin has 38 wickets at 18.42 to his name. It is the highest tally by any bowler on this ground. Meanwhile, Ravindra Jadeja scalped six wickets in the only Test he played there.
However, contrary to the reports, India's assistant coach Abhishek Nayar said that the team does not asks for “tailor-made pitches” in Tests.
Dismissing reports that pitches that aid spin are being prepared as per the team management's request, Nayar said, “I wish we could curate pitches, but we don't. The curators do. Whatever we are provided with, we go on and play (whether) that is be a pitch that seamed or a pitch that turned. We don't try and get conditions according to what we want."
India's batting has come under scrutiny, after three collapses in the series so far. The most humiliating was the 46 all-out—India's lowest Test innings total at home—in Bengaluru. In the Pune Test, India were shot out for 156, while they went from 81/1 to 245 all-out later.