With less than 24 hours to go before the start of India vs Australia Test series, the Australian media houses are crying foul seeing the Nagpur pitch. Team India will lock horns with Australia in the 4-match Test series that started on February 9 in Nagpur. The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 is among the most crucial series as it will determine whether Team India will qualify for the World Test Championship finals or not. In fact, if Team India clean sweeps mighty Australia they will become the number 1 Test team around the world. Now, ahead of the match, Australian media giants like Fox have accused BCCI and Team India for doctoring the Nagpur pitch in order to influence the results in favor of Team India. Fox News reported that only the centre of the Nagpur wicket was watered and rolled while the area where bowlers will target left-handers was left bone dry. Furthermore, it alleged that this was the same at either end of the wicket in what appeared to be a deliberate ploy to make life difficult for left-handers, who for Australia include David Warner, Usman Khawaja, and Travis Head.
Cricbuzz writer Bharat Sundarsen shared a series of pictures of Nagpur pitch and wrote, "Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface & only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump & then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends"
Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface & only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump & then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus pic.twitter.com/Myr2ZblqCg
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 7, 2023
Notably, the Nagpur pitch row started after Australian batter Steve Smith during a press conference said, "It is pretty dry, particularly at one end. I think it will take a bit of spin. The ball will spin into the left-handers. There is a section that is quite dry. I don't think there will be a heap of bounce in the wicket. It will be a bit skiddy for the seamers and maybe a bit of up-and-down movement as the game goes on. If Cameron Green was fit, we'd have played three spinners, that is a tempting option. We've got a strategy meeting this afternoon but ultimately, it boils down to the selectors to pick the team for the surface."
Fans slam Australian media and team
Reacting to the Australian media report, a user wrote, "What did Australia do against England there was no difference between the out field and the pitch and the match ended within 2 and half days and not only that every wicket was a green top so do not define or preach about pitches"
Another user said, ""Pitch-doctoring" will have the exact same impact on both teams. I'm not sure about "ball tampering" though."
"So much talk about pitches before the game starts! For one, it is the same for both teams. And second, it has to present a challenge to the touring side. That is the essence of home and away contests," wrote another user.
Another user wrote, "Double standards, Australia did exactly the same thing when they hosted South Africa recently."
India vs Australia 2023 Test series
India vs Australia 1st Test from February 9 to 13 at VCA Stadium, Nagpur
Border Gavaskar Trophy: Dinesh Karthik reveals TWO Biggest threats for Team India vs Australia
India vs Australia 2nd Test from February 17 to 21 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi
India vs Australia 3rd Test from March 1 to 5 at HPCA Stadium, Dharamshala
India vs Australia 4th Test from March 9 to 13 at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad
India’s Test squad for the first two Tests against Australia: Rohit Sharma (Captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat (wk), Ishan Kishan (wk), R. Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd. Shami, Mohd. Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.
Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner