Reddy and Badoni jostle for Sundar’s spot in ODI squad

Indian batters will look to impose themselves against New Zealand in batting-friendly Rajkot

- Rasesh Mandani

It’s that time of the year when Gujarat is high on festive spirit. When the sky is covered with kites, flown early in the day to catch the predawn wind, and lanterns light up the night, setting up a social congregation over til-laddu and fafda.

Count 29,000 enthusiasts out, with the men in blue in town on kite-flying day. The Ro-Ko attraction should still be able to pull in the crowds. “We are sold to capacity,” said Niranjan Shah, the octogenarian former BCCI secretary whose name the Rajkot stadium that will host the second ODI against New Zealand carries.

The pitch here has been equated to the Jamnagar highway that leads up to the stadium, built in Khandheri, a village in Rajkot’s Paddhari taluka. Three of the previous four ODIs here saw five scores in excess of 300. This notion of the Rajkot surface being a flat deck had extended Cheteshwar Pujara’s wait for a Test debut despite his heavy scoring in domestic cricket.

Having a batting-friendly venue though sits perfectly well with the Indian crowds, who would much rather have Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli regale them with pulls and cover drives than appreciate a lifter from Mohammed Siraj that tests both ends of the bat.