New Delhi, Feb 12 () After suffering a crushing defeat, Australian team had a planned a training session on the spin-friendly Nagpur pitch, which confounded them in the Border Gavaskar Trophy series opener, but they were forced to cancel it as a Vidarbha Cricket Association ground staff watered the surface following the end of first Test match.
According to a cricket.com.au report, a member of the VCA Stadium ground staff was observed hosing down the pitch after the Australians left the ground on Saturday afternoon not long after India had wrapped up an innings victory inside three days.
The report further said that the Australians had requested the pitch be kept intact to allow their misfiring top-order valuable additional practice the following afternoon.
Speaking to radio station SEN, coach Andrew McDonald insisted the planned session was not “naughty boy nets” but rather an opportunity for their batters to come to terms with “extreme” subcontinent conditions.
Notably, the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy had ended within three days as the Australian batters failed to find the way to handle Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin as the spin together duo claimed 15 of the 20 wickets.
After winning the toss and opting to bat, the visitors managed to score 177 and were bowled out for a mere 91 in the second innings inside a single session on Saturday, giving India 1-0 lead in the four match series.
bc/ak