Nagpur pitch: Robert Craddock on India v Australia first Test ‘stitch up’

An immediate investigation is needed into the shameful curating at Nagpur, says Robert Craddock — read his scathing take on the pitch farce here.

Indian great Sunil Gavaskar said on the weekend Australia had no right to moan about pitches when it just hosted a Test that finished in two days.

Fine. No-one’s perfect. But sorry Sunny. There’s a difference between a stuff-up and a stitch up.

The Gabba curator was mortified when the South Africa Test finished in two days and admitted he got it wrong.

The Nagpur deck, by contrast, looks from a distance like one of the most deliberate and cynical stitch ups ever, a sneaky, shameless piece of pitch doctoring designed to create nightmares for Australia’s left-handed batsmen.

Moulding a pitch to suit a home team is fair enough.

Ground keepers work on the pitch during a training session at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground in Nagpur.

India's coach Rahul Dravid inspects the pitch.

But trying to torture the opposition by turning a piece of the pitch into cricket’s version of the Sahara Desert is quite another.

The International Cricket Council should launch an immediate investigation into who told the curator not to water the area outside the left-handers off stump.

Pat Cummins passed his first Test as captain on tour on Wednesday by not blowing up when he had every right to.

Indian tours are won and lost in the head as much as on the pitch. Experienced journalist Bharat Sundaresan warned Australia that to beat India they must not let lids bubble off saucepans and start antagonising the home side in any way.

They must be cool killers.

“Once India get stirred up at home it’s over,’’ Sundaresan said.

Cummins reacted perfectly at his press conference by urging his side to “embrace the chaos.’’

Pat Cummins gets a look at the pitch.

Matt Renshaw could be axed due to pitch conditions.

He can let others fire up about the pitch. The less he makes of it the better.

Australia have won one series in India in 50 years and one of the reasons for that is they traditionally sense trouble around every corner.

It is hard to win with a suspicious mind no matter how genuine those suspicions are.

In the colourful and occasionally sordid world of Test wicket preparation it’s hard to recall a more obvious example of a doctored deck than this son of pitch in Nagpur.

Curators from all nations have been able to get away with producing pitches that suit the home side under the guise of “well, it’s the same for both sides.’’

But that’s the problem with this deck. It’s not.

Australia were likely to field six left-handers in their top eight where India at most will have two in their XI.

Matt Renshaw was believed to be in front of Peter Handscomb in the battle for the No 6 spot but if Handscomb’s chances must now soar because he is right-hander who would be playing the “non-corrupted’’ part of the pitch.

If Renshaw was omitted he would be the first batsman in cricket history to lose his Test place because of a shameful piece of curating.

It’s just not right.

Originally published as Nagpur pitch: Robert Craddock on India v Australia first Test ‘stitch up’