By R. Muthukumar
The Vidarbha Cricket Association’s act of spraying water on the ground has caused controversy when the Australian cricket team, which has arrived in India, has sought permission to train at the Nagpur stadium today.
India won the first Test in Nagpur by an innings and 132 runs to take a 1-0 lead in the 4-match Test series. Australia were bowled out for just 91 runs in the second innings. Jadeja took 5 wickets in the first innings and Ashwin took 5 wickets in the 2nd innings using a rough patch outside the off-stump. This is not a great bowling. This is due to the inadequacy of the Australian batsmen.
Zakir Hasan, who played in the debut Test in Bangladesh, could not understand why Warner, Khawaja, Labusche and Smith were dying when they could face Ashwin and others very nicely. It must be said that they allowed Ashwin to dominate.
However, as it was known that the same pitch as Nagpur will be used for the remaining 3 Test matches, Australia requested to stay in Nagpur today and practice on the same net practice pitch and the Test pitch. They had requested the Vidarbha Cricket Association to leave the pitch intact and practice there for a session. But the Vidarbha Cricket Association has flatly rejected Australia’s request by not accepting the request and watering both the practice pitch and the match pitch night after night and making it unfit for practice.
The cancellation of training as all the pitches were watered was seen as a major setback by the Australian team management. Denial of training on the pitch where the combination of Jadeja and Ashwin bowled out the Australian team for 177 and 91 runs is sure to stir up controversy and if a national team is coming here, they are our guests and it is the first duty of the Test Conducting Board to provide them with facilities and training arrangements suitable for cricket. But here the Vidarbha Cricket Association has forgotten its duty.