Chennai, Jan 28 (TIWN) Five pitches with "decent amount of grass" have been prepared for the first India-England Test that begins at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on February 5. The Indian team management will pick the one it deems suitable for the Test and decide on how much grass will be left on the surface.

The MA Chidambaram Stadium has not hosted competitive cricket since the start of the lockdown in March last year and all eyes are on how the surface would behave.  Incidentally, the last Test match to be played at the venue was between the same teams over four years ago, in December 2016. India racked up 759/7 wickets with Karun Nair scoring an unbeaten 303 and KL Rahul scoring 199. India went on to win the Test -- 1,443 runs were scored and 27 wickets were captured in the match -- by an innings and 75 runs.  The 2008 Test in Chennai saw India successfully chase 387 in the fourth innings and win the Test by six wickets.