India ponder pace boost for decider

India are considering refreshing their pace stocks for the decisive final Test amid reports that the pitch in Dharamsala might defy the series’ firm trend and offer something for the seamers.

It is understood the home team, who assembled in the Himalayan foothills city a day earlier than their opponents to help acclimatise to the altitude, have summoned fast bowler Mohammed Shami to join a squad that already includes Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma (who both played in the opening three Tests) as well was right-armer Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

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Shami is regarded as one of the quickest bowlers in India’s international set-up but has not played for his country since the third Test against England in Mohali four months ago where he suffered a recurrence of a knee injury.

The 26-year-old, who has claimed 76 wickets at around 32 in his 22 Test appearances to date, captured 4-26 and reportedly bowled with good speed in last Monday’s Vijay Hazare domestic one-day competition final for Bengal.

That same day, after India’s bowlers had failed to find a way through Australia’s batting order as the third Test ended in a draw at Ranchi, India captain Virat Kohli indicated that Shami was in the mix for a call-up.

"We sent him to play, wanted to give him match practice,” Kohli said after the Ranchi Test, and prior to Shami’s addition to the squad for the series decider.

"I've not spoken to selectors but all kinds of possibilities are there approaching the next Test."

One of those possibilities is that the pitch at Dharamsala – which, like stadia in Pune and Ranchi before it through Australia’s Qantas Tour of India, has never before hosted a Test match – might not be a flat, dry spinner’s deck.

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Which would be a marked contrast to the surfaces that the Australians have found in the first two Tests where the spinners ruled, and then the third match which was played in such flat, slow conditions that only 25 wickets fell across five full days.

The curator of the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium, which sits almost 1500m above sea level against the stunning backdrop of the Himalayan range, has indicated that he will prepare a pitch in keeping with the ground’s character.

Which he claimed has favoured fast bowlers throughout the Ranji Trophy, India’s domestic first-class competition, with only this season’s first match played late last year hosting team totals in excess of 300.

"It will behave as it has done naturally here," curator Sunil Chauhan was quoted as saying in the Times of India national broadsheet today.

"It will stay fast and bouncy.

"Our pitch is one of the most difficult for the batsmen (facing fast bowlers) in the Ranji Trophy and its nature won’t be altered.

"Our preparation is the same and efforts are focused at providing a track that a five-day game needs, with something in it for everyone."

Of course, the pre-match promises of pitch preparation often vary wildly from the final result.

As the Australians learned in Pune when the curator, former fast bowler Pandurang Salgaoncar announced the "ball will fly" on his track for the first Test, only so see it take spin from the first over and be rated ‘poor’ by ICC match referee Chris Broad.

But if, when the Australians take their first look tomorrow at the stunning venue they last visited during the ICC World T20 tournament a year ago, they find grass instead of dust, they believe they are well prepared.

Even though they have lost their main pace strike weapon, Mitchell Starc, to injury and the new-ball pair from Ranchi (Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins) bowled 44 and 39 overs respectively in India’s epic first innings that stretched across three days.

Hazlewood and Cummins are expected to undertake little other than recovery work before the Test begins on Saturday, and the prospect of a seamer-friendly pitch increases the chances of Jackson Bird playing for the first time in the four-match series currently level at 1-1.

Should Bird earn a call-up and Cummins is deemed fit after such a taxing workload in his first Test in six years, it’s likely one of the incumbent spinners – Nathan Lyon and Steve O’Keefe – will be omitted.

With allrounder Glenn Maxwell then expected to play a bigger role with his off-spin.

That option was flagged today by former Test quick Mitchell Johnson, who said he expected Bird to play ahead of O'Keefe for the series decider.

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But given the Australians are yet to arrive in India's most northern Test venue, they are keeping tight-lipped about any possible changes to their playing XI.

"Not a great deal of chat yet about Dharamsala," Australia’s last-day batting hero from Ranchi, Peter Handscomb, said when asked what the tourists expected for the final Test.

"I guess that’s something that we’ll assess once we rock up to the ground.

"They do have the ability here to prepare lots of different wickets, so we can’t really get an understanding of what they are going to do until we actually see it for ourselves.

"And even then we can have a read on the wicket but it’s not necessarily going to be right so we’ll just go from that and, once ball one (is bowled).

"But I think it gives the squad a massive amount of confidence, knowing we can go in and assess the pitch as quickly as we can, and then play our game from there.

"Obviously we did that well in Pune, and we’ve had two different types of wickets again in Bangalore (where India levelled the series) and Ranchi.

"So if we can assess the conditions as quickly as possible and go from there, I’m sure we’ll be fine."