Stuart Binny set to play again

India's preparations at the nets, coupled with their policy of not dropping a player after just one game, suggest that Stuart Binny could keep his place in the team at Lord's

	Stuart Binny's inclusion at Trent Bridge had left quite a few people baffled © Getty Images  Enlarge

Two days before the Lord's Test, there remained a right mystery around the Lord's pitch. It was left uncovered for only a brief while, and looked green, a stark contrast to the sawdust-colour grass on the Trent Bridge pitch.

Mick Hunt, the Lord's groundsman, stayed unavailable for comment. Chris Wood, the ECB pitch liaison officer, was seen in a long conversation with Hunt, but there was no official communication as to how Lord's was reacting to the widespread criticism and frustration Trent Bridge brought.

Intrigue surrounded the pitch as Stuart Broad tweeted it looked similar to two days before the Test against Sri Lanka. The cover over the pitch was not the huge and well-ventilated hovercraft, but an orthodox one, which stayed on surface as opposed to hovering over it, in effect providing a bit of window underneath. A school of thought suggests this was being done to retain some moisture, which would disappear if kept under the hovercraft.

There was little uncertainty around the India camp, though. Stuart Binny's selection - his match-saving fifty on the final notwithstanding - raised a lot of debate, and drew criticism from such experts as Michael Holding, Ian Chappell and Martin Crowe. Those knocking Binny down have been of the view that he is much closer to bits-and-pieces than allrounder, that he bowled only 10 overs which was well short of what his primary role was, and that R Ashwin is a better choice if India do indeed want to go with an extra bowler. Those with Binny suggest the pitch at Trent Bridge was not conducive to his kind of bowling, and that he did play an important role with the bat.

Possibly looking at the green grass on the Lord's pitch, or possibly following their policy of not discarding a player based on just one match, India seem set to play the same XI at Lord's. When in the nets, the Indians batted in the same order as before the first Test. The three main quicks got a separate net to finish their batting before they could come to bowl in the main nets. The remaining batting order in the nets remained the same as the first Test, with Binny bowling his bit before coming in to bat at No. 8.

Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir did not do much in the nets, but Ashwin and Rohit Sharma bowled a few overs towards the end of the session.

Sidharth Monga is an assistant editor at ESPNcricinfo

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