India won the first Test against Australia in Nagpur easily. India only batted once but they were able to bowl Australia out twice. Aussies lost by a big margin of innings and 132 runs. Despite the defeat, the Aussies wanted to improve by practicing on the Nagpur pitch which was difficult for them. However, their plans did not work out because the ground staff watered the pitch despite their request.
Aussies want to leave no stone unturned for the rest of BGT
Cricket Australia announced that Australia’s practice session in Nagpur was canceled just before it was supposed to start. The team found out that the pitch was watered the day before. A person from the VCA Stadium was seen using a hose on the pitch just after India finished the first Test on Saturday.
Former Australia wicketkeeper Healy was left furious as he called the act “pathetic”. He said:
“It’s really embarrassing the scuppering of our plans to get some practice sessions on that Nagpur wicket. That’s not good, that’s just not good for cricket. The ICC needs to step in here. For them to water the wicket unceremoniously when it was requested for practice is horrible and that has to improve.”
Earlier, Aussie coach Andrew McDonald had said:
“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. When we got here we got exactly that. They’re not naughty boy nets today (the planned session). We’ve got a big squad of 17 players so there’s different people on different training programs. There’ll be a couple of players from the game that will come down, so they’ll be seen at training. But it’s certainly not naughty boy nets, it’s just preparing for the next game.”
Meanwhile, the Aussies brought in a left-arm spinner, Matt Kuhnemann after the first Test. He replaced Mitchell Swepson who went home for the arrival of his first baby.
The second Test will start on February 17th.
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