India cricket nice Ravi Shastri has savaged claims the nation is “cheating” with its dealing with of the Nagpur pitch for the primary Test towards Australia.
Controversy has damaged out within the days earlier than the Border-Gavaskar Trophy collection opener after footage of the groundskeepers engaged on particular areas of the wicket emerged.
Journalists captured staffers watering the centre of the pitch and the off-side for right-handers, however left the leg-side dry and solely rolled the centre of the wicket, the suggestion being it’ll damage left-handed batters.
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Australia has a left-handed-heavy line-up together with 5 of the highest seven from the SCG Test, although Matt Renshaw is reportedly unlikely to re-join David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head and Alex Carey, with right-handed Peter Handscomb favoured.
Speaking on SEN’s Sportsday, co-host Kane Cornes put it to Shastri that the “pretty dry” pitch amounted to “cheating”.
“That is bulls**t!” the Indian legend exclaimed.
“It’s more hype than anything else surrounding this first Test match.
“It always happens, you get 15mm grass, 18mm grass or 12mm grass in different places around the ground … at the end of this first Test, I’m sure there’ll be someone who scores a hundred.
“If someone can get a hundred or 80-plus on that pitch, they’ve played well and he will go and say, ‘What’s wrong with the pitch? You stay there, you apply yourself, your shot selection is good, you get runs’.
“But if you go out there and think you’re going to smash every ball, good luck to you.”
Shastri conceded the hosts are inside their rights to do what they need with the pitch.
“If the ball is going to turn from there, so be it,” Shastri mentioned.
“So what? It’s home conditions, do what suits you, both teams have to play on the surface, there’s a match referee who is the boss, it’s as simple as that.
“We never complained about pitches, in my career we never complained about a simple pitch.
“No excuses, just get on with it, at the end of three days no one’s going to get killed on that surface.
“The quality of the camera lenses is so good, they can make green grass look brown, that’s what you expect in India, come on.”
Amid all the dialogue of the pitch the Aussie workforce has made some extent to not purchase in, with captain Pat Cummins saying they have been “embracing the chaos”.
“These series always throw up different challenges on the field or off the field, and embracing it is what makes these tours so special,” Cummins mentioned.
“That’s part of the challenge of playing away. Home teams want to win at home. In Australia, we’re lucky we’ve normally got pace and bounce.
“Home match advantage, I don’t think it’s a terrible thing. It’s another challenge and makes touring over here even harder when you know the conditions are custom-made for them.”
Originally printed as ‘That’s bulls**t’: Indian legend savages ‘cheating’ claims over controversial first Test pitch
Source: www.dailytelegraph.com.au
