India coach has moved on from review row ahead of third test

Ranchi, India: India’s coach Anil Kumble said attention would be back on the pitch for the third Test against Australia after the last match ended on a sour note over the use of Decision Review System (DRS) technology.Following the end of the Test won by India, captain Virat Kohli alleged his Australian counterpart Steve Smith had flouted the rules on reviewing umpire decisions.“I think what was important was to bring the focus back on cricket and I am really glad that the BCCI took a mature call along with Cricket Australia to issue a joint statement that cricket needs to move on and we have moved on from whatever happened in that background,” Kumble said yesterday.Both captains escaped any charges from the International Cricket Council over the dispute involving the Decision Review System (DRS) in Bengaluru, while the Board of Control for Cricket in India and Cricket Australia released a joint statement to resolve the matter.India succumbed to their first defeat in 15 Test matches with a humiliating 333-run loss against Australia in the first Test at Pune last month, but clinched the second in Bengaluru last week, beating the visitors by 75 runs.“We would like to finish the last two test matches in a very good way, and I am sure it will be something that we will be cherishing. I think India have responded really well,” he said ahead of the third match of the four-Test series which starts from tomorrow at first-time Test venue Ranchi. After a series win against West Indies in July, India hosted and won test series against New Zealand and England as well as a victory over Bangladesh.Question mark over test fitness of ‘freak’ CumminsA recall for one-Test paceman Pat Cummins has been a long time coming but New South Wales captain Moises Henriques believes it still might be too soon for the bowler he considers a “freak of nature”. Cummins may have only played one Test but his was a pretty impressive performance, taking 6-79 in the second innings to lead Australia to a two-wicket victory over South Africa at Wanderers in November 2011.After more than five years of injury setbacks preventing his talent from blooming in the Test arena, the 23-year-old was called up to replace the injured Mitchell Starc in the squad for the last two matches in the series in India. A man-of-the-match performance on his return to first class cricket for the first time in six years last week was enough for selectors to give him the call, but his New South Wales captain was not so sure.“I think Pat is a very special bowler, so in terms of skill-wise and if you want someone to play cricket for Australia, I think Pat Cummins is your man,” Henriques said. “But whether he’s ready physically on the back of one Shield game, that’s a completely different kettle of fish. There’s a number of different factors when it comes into selecting guys to play for Australia in those sorts of conditions.”South Africa draft in extra spinner for New ZealandSouth Africa yesterday called up off-spinner Dane Piedt to join their squad for the third and final Test against New Zealand in Hamilton, starting on March 25. The South African selectors packed their original touring squad with seam bowlers and only selected one specialist spinner in left-armer Keshav Maharaj. The drawn first Test in Dunedin was played on a slow, turning pitch and New Zealand picked two spinners, who bowled a combined 106 overs out of a total of 224.4 during South Africa’s two innings.Maharaj bowled 28.3 overs in New Zealand’s only innings, which lasted 114.3 overs, and took five for 94. Piedt will not arrive in New Zealand in time for the second Test, which starts in Wellington tomorrow, but could be drafted into the line-up for the third Test if the Hamilton pitch is similar to the spin-friendly surface that was used for two one-day internationals.Piedt, 27, took 24 wickets at an average of 36.04 in seven Tests before he was dropped from the squad that won a Test series in Australia in November when two previously uncapped left-armers, Maharaj and Tabraiz Shamsi were selected.