Report: India getting ‘inferior’ practice pitches for practice ahead of the MCG Test

New Delhi: The Border Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India is turning into a musical chair with both sides throwing abuses and allegations at each other. The original feud started with a heated argument between Mohammed Siraj and Travis Head, things have escalated to such an extent that the Australians have resorted to ‘foul play’ to derail the momentum gained by the Indian team.

Interestingly, this is not the first time that such incidents have emerged in the Border Gavaskar Trophy. The 2008 ‘Monkey Gate’ Scandal, the ‘Kohli-Johnson’ controversy, the ‘Que Sera Sera’ incident and the list goes on. However, things have not transpired this much to give battered and worn-out pitches to the Indian players for batting practice.

Matt Page rubbishes the inferior pitch under the narrative of ‘Standard Procedure!’

However, Australian pitch curator Matt Page has remarked that it was ‘standard procedure‘ to provide fresh pitches only three days in advance of a Test. The Indian team took a break on Monday after two consecutive days of intensified nets session, although captain Rohit Sharma had an injury scare on the second of those days. After the incident, Akash Deep complained-

The ball was keeping a bit low at times. They look like white-ball pitches….

Meanwhile, defending Australia’s decision, Page said:

For us, three days out, we prepare pitches for here. If teams come and play before that, they get what pitches we’ve had. So today, we’re on fresh pitches (Australia had an optional practice session). If India had trained this (Monday) morning, they would have been on those fresh pitches. It’s stock standard procedure for us, three days out…

Akthough the tug of war has started, Page’s line of reasoning seems not convincing given that the Australian pitch curator had the travel plans of the Indian team well in advance.

Coming to the pitch, Page remarked that the pitch will not be the ‘balanced’ pitch which MCG is and will be a bouncy and pacey wicket which might ‘disturb’ the balance between bat and ball.