Australia’s plan to train on Nagpur pitch spoiled by ground staff

They hoped to train on Sunday and Monday before flying to Delhi on Tuesday for the second Test, starting February 17.

Australia's plan to train on Nagpur pitch spoiled by ground staff

After the humiliating loss by an innings and 132 runs inside three days in the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, Australia wanted to train at the VCA Stadium in Nagpur to learn more about the extreme conditions. However, the ground staff spoiled their plan as they watered the pitch right after the end of Day 3.

Australia’s team management attempted to inform the curators on Saturday to hold off the watering. They hoped to train on Sunday and Monday before flying to Delhi on Tuesday for the second Test, starting February 17.

The News coming from Nagpur is that Australians had requested for the pitch to be kept intact as it was during the game to allow their batsmen some practice but the groundstaff watered the pitch last night itself & Australia had to cancel their practice session. #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/EGh7znsHse
— Abhijeet ♞ (@TheYorkerBall) February 12, 2023

“It’s pretty clear isn’t it, their intent with the surfaces they want to play on. We were expecting that coming in so as I said before, we’ve been really clear on what we expected,” Australian coach Andrew McDonald told SEN Radio.

“When we got here we got exactly that. They’re not naughty boys nets (the planned session). We’ve got a big squad of 17 players so there’s different people on different training programs,” he added.

Pat Cummins says Nagpur pitch was difficult but not unplayable

The Nagpur pitch was the talk of the town before the start of the first Test. After the defeat, the Aussie skipper Pat Cummins called the pitch difficult but not “unplayable“. Indian spinners scalped 16 of 20 Aussie wickets in both innings. “I think, that first innings, the wicket spun but it wasn’t unplayable,” Cummins said after the match. He further said that their batsmen need to find a way and method to get themselves in.

In the lead-up to the Nagpur Test, they did not train at the venue, and instead, they arrived in Bengaluru and had a four-day training camp at the KSCA Stadium in Alur (on the outskirts of Bengaluru).

The visitors opted out of playing warm-up matches because they believe the pitches for these matches are not prepared like what they get in actual Tests. This decision was criticized by a few former cricketers.

Pat Cummins and co. were without their three star pacers, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Cameron Green in the first Test. Starc is likely to make a comeback for the Delhi Test. Their debutant spinner Todd Murphy was the most successful bowler as he scalped seven wickets for 124 runs.

Australia got bundled out for 177 with Ravindra Jadeja’s five-wicket haul in their first innings. Their bowlers then conceded 400 runs to India, with Rohit Sharma completing his century and Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel scoring their respective half-centuries. On Day 3, Ravichandran Ashwin ran riot and soon wrapped up the series opener in India’s favor with Australia registering their lowest total in India (91).

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#About the Author

Gouri Das

(5300 Articles Published)

Gouri Das is a tennis writer at FirstSportz. A journalism graduate, she started as an intern and wrote over 2500 cricket stories. For a brief period, she edited cricket and football articles before she delved into the world of tennis. Although she likes every player for their diverse playing styles, she always finds herself rooting for Novak Djokovic as his Grand Slam matches have evoked an interest in her to learn more about the sport.

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