“To be honest, I don’t know what surface we will play on yet,” India batting coach Abhishek Nayar said on Thursday afternoon, echoing similar thoughts expressed by Bangladesh head coach Chandika Hathurusinghe on Wednesday.

“Yes, I looked at (the pitch),” Hathurusinghe had said, “but the groundsman has prepared two pitches. We don’t know which one we will play on. We’ll find out tomorrow.”

During Wednesday’s training session, India captain Rohit Sharma and coach Gautam Gambhir took a look at the two pitches prepared for this Test match. They seemed to spend a little more time looking at the drier of the two black earth surfaces.

There are signs that it is a good hitting surface at first before turning slow and low from the third day onwards. But the weather in the week of the Test match could complicate matters. It’s cloudy and thunderstorms are expected for the first three days of play, which could slow the natural wear and tear that helps subcontinental pitches become spin-friendly. Even after the end of India’s training session on Thursday, there was some rain and the ground staff were quick to cover the pitch.

India will therefore wait until the morning of the Test to finalize their XI, particularly whether they need an additional spinner in place of the extra seamer they used on Chennai’s red surface.

“Both pitches look pretty good,” Nayar said. “Kanpur is always known for having good pitches. I’m not sure about the bounce yet. I think given the conditions and the forecast it will be interesting to see what the conditions look like when we get there in the morning to get started. “I think a lot will depend on that because as you know the conditions at the Test wicket can have a detrimental effect have a big influence on how the playing field develops. So it’s too early to judge and decide But we hope we have a sunny day and not a cloudy day in Kanpur tomorrow.

India lead the series 1-0 and if they come into the game with a spinner over a seamer they will have the choice between local hero Kuldeep Yadav, who had an outstanding series against England earlier in the year, and Axar Patel, who is capable of a relentless attack on the stumps can be very useful at low bounce. Axar joined R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja in the last Test India played in Kanpur, against New Zealand in 2021, which entered the fifth day when the visitors kept their last wicket and drew the game.