India will play a three-day practice game against Sri Lanka XI from August 7.
Ahead of their two-Test series against Sri Lanka, India are scheduled to play a three-day practice match against Sri Lanka XI at the Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) Ground in Colombo beginning Friday.
While the conditions in Sri Lanka are said to be favorable for spinners, Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) decided to leave some grass on the wicket for the practice match, which apparently irritated Indian officials.
However, Nondescripts Cricket Club (NCC) official A. Francke stated that the surface will be suitable for the three-day encounter, and that the outcome will be determined by the teams' approaches.
"The Indian team said that there is too much grass on the wicket, but that is how we keep it because it is a three-day game. You can't give a wicket without grass. Other than that, they were happy with it. The wicket we have given is a good wicket, so I can't tell whether it will favor any team. It depends on how they play," he said in a conversation with Revsportz.
Francke further revealed that SLC requested the grass to be left on the pitch.
"The tinge of grass has been requested by Sri Lanka cricket, so we will keep it like that. Maybe conditions will change, but normally NCC wickets are good batting tracks. We are hoping that there will be high scores here. But the Indian batters can have good practice here before they go to Galle.
Our wicket may help the spinners on the second day or third day. But I will suggest that anybody who wins the toss here should bat first. We always prepare good and fair wickets," he said.
The first Test of the series will be played in Galle from August 15 onwards, while the second Test will be played at SSC, Colombo from August 23 onwards.