Australia v India, first Test: Pictures expose ridiculous pitch preparation

The Australian team sensed something was wrong with the Nagpur pitch they are set to face India on in two days – but after they left the stadium the real dirty work began.

The pitch doctor is in the house and the prognosis is grim for left handed visitors ahead of Thursday’s first Test.

The Australian team thought something was going on with the pitch when they trained two days out from the first Test of the Border Gavaskar trophy, but they should have seen what happened when they left the Nagpur stadium.

Later in the afternoon, as the Indian hierarchy stood around, the curators embarked on one of the more extraordinary pitch preparations.

The centre of the Nagpur wicket was watered and rolled. The area on a good length for left handers was left to parch in the heat and was avoided by the machinery.

India have produced a very suspicious pitch in Nagpur.

Photographs published by cricket journalist Bharat Sunderasen suggest a determined attempt to foil Australia’s left handed batsmen by producing rough outside their off stump.

At both ends the area outside a length for the left handers is dry and loose while that area looks far better for right handers.

The only winner among the visitors could be Peter Handscomb who might press ahead of Matthew Renshaw because he bats right handed while the Queenslander doesn’t.

Handscomb is also the best performed batsman in the first half of the Sheffield Shield season.

Steve Smith, who saw the wicket before the bespoke tailoring in the afternoon, said he thought there was a tactic afoot.

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 #IndvAuspic.twitter.com/Myr2ZblqCg

— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 7, 2023

“It’s pretty dry,” he said. “Particularly one end. I think it will take a bit of spin, particularly the left arm spinners spinning it back in to our left handers.

“There’s a section there that is quite dry.

“I can’t get a good gauge on it, I’m not sure, but I don’t think there will be a heap of bounce in the wicket for the seamers, it will be quite skiddy and maybe a bit of up and down movement as the game goes on.

“The cracks felt quite loose.”

Those loose cracks received no water or rolling according to witnesses.

Ground keepers work on the pitch during a training session. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images

Indian vice-captain KL Rahul said two days out from the Test that nobody could predict how a wicket would play but conceded this Border Gavaskar trophy carried extra weight because the result could determine if India make the Test championship mid year.

“The things that we’ve worked on obviously is playing spin, we know how pitches are going to be here in India and what to expect,” he said.

“Keeping that in mind, we’ve practised playing spin. Each person has their individual plans. Everybody wants to play a certain way, everyone has their own set way which has been discussed with the coaches.

“It is a must win series, with India Australia it always is. It isn’t any different to any Border Gavaskar series we’ve played, yes we do realise there is a Test Championship final that we all want to play in, but we realise we have to not think too far ahead.”

AUSSIES’ WORST NIGHTMARE AS ‘LOOSE’ INDIAN PITCH SPOOKS BATSMEN

Australia’s batsmen were brought to their knees by the mysterious patterns they detected in the red clay soil of the Nagpur pitch ahead of the first Test.

The team arrived at the cavernous stadium on the outskirts of the Orange city early yesterday, Steve Smith and David Warner fascinated by an apparent rough outside the left handers off stump.

Australian batsmen lean left. Warner, Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Alex Carey and Matthew Renshaw — should they name him — are all mollydookers.

Warner looked particularly concerned and Smith suggested he and the others left handers have reason to be.

Visitors are always spooked by Indian pitches and hyper vigilant in their suspicions with good reason.

In the past curators have actually boasted of preparing wickets to foil, for example, Shane Warne in his bowling to Sachin Tendulkar at Chennai.

The BCCI now sends around official curators to oversee the preparation of wickets.

The Australians arrived aware that the chasing side was bowled out for 54 in the last first class match at this venue.

Todd Murphy is a chance to debut in the first Test.

The traditional clay wicket combined with the unavailability of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Cam Green suggests the visitors will go in with two seamers — captain Pat Cummins and Scott Boland — and two specialist spinners. Nathan Lyon is guaranteed and Ashton Agar probably has an edge given he spins it the other way.

The Indian batting line up is almost exclusively right leaning.

Wrist spinners like Mitch Swepson are rarely favoured in India and while there is a lot of noise about the 22-year-old Victorian Todd Murphy it would be a bold move to blood the veteran of just seven first class games against the best players of spin in world cricket.

Finger spinners are fashionable in India and the home team has three first class proponents in Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja and Axar Patel.

Smith is among the most successful of Australian batters to have played in the subcontinent.

Steve Smith speaks to media ahead of the first Test.

His three centuries in 2017 ensured he was the highest run scorer in the series. Only Neil Harvey and Michael Clarke have reached three figures on that many occasions in India but neither did it in one series.

Smith is the only player in the squad to have scored a hundred in an India leg of the Border Gavaskar trophy (Mitchell Starc scored 99 at Mohali in 2013).

The former skipper has been at his absolute best in recent series but is not guaranteeing similar returns this time around.

“It’s hard to say until I get out into the middle I feel like I am in a really good place,” he said. “I feel like I am in a really good place, I’ve had some really good training, some long hits over the last weeks.

“I’ve been hitting the ball nicely, fingers crossed I can replicate what I did in 2017.”

The Aussies take in a pitch in Nagpur.

Curiously, Virat Kohli has only scored a single century at home against the Australians (Chennai 2013) but he has scored six of them in Australia.

Rahul said the Indians were, like the Australians, preparing to bat on turning decks.

“The things that we’ve worked on obviously is playing spin, we know how pitches are going to be here in India and what to expect,” he said.

“Keeping that in mind, we’ve practised playing spin. Each person has their individual plans. Everybody wants to play a certain way, everyone has their own set way which has been discussed with the coaches.

“It is a must win series, with India Australia it always is. It isn’t any different to any Border Gavaskar series we’ve played, yes we do realise there is a Test Championship final that we all want to play in, but we realise we have to not think too far ahead.”

Originally published as Australia v India, first Test: Pictures expose ridiculous pitch preparation