Australia started 'cheating' even on practice pitch, curator replied like this on Team India's complaint

Cricket News Desk. The Indian team has expressed dissatisfaction with the practice pitches ahead of the fourth Test against Australia and blamed the uneven bounce of the pitch for Rohit Sharma's knee injury. But MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground) curator Matt Page defended the pitches, saying 'standard protocols' were followed. Rohit suffered swelling in his left knee while trying to play a throwdown off support staff member Dayanand Garani and did not practice in the nets on Sunday.

The team decided not to practice on Monday. It emerged that the captain had had to ice his swollen foot the night before and the team's 'think tank' blamed this on the uneven bounce of the pitch. The Indian team had sent its training schedule two months ago but the MCG curators stuck to the standard operating procedure of providing a new practice pitch just three days before the Test match. The fourth test will start from 26th December. Regarding why India did not get a pitch like the main pitch, Page said, 'We prepare the pitch here three days in advance. If teams come and play first, they will get the same pitches that we have available.

What did the MCG curator say?

Defending the move, Page said, “Today we are on new pitches.” If we had played this morning they would have played on those new pitches. It is standard procedure for us to book three days in advance. We make pitches for our test matches as per our requirement. When asked if he was aware of the Indian schedule and whether the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had informed Cricket Australia (CA), he replied in the affirmative. , The answer was given.

Page said, 'Yes, they gave us the program. There has been correspondence between CA and the Indian board and I don't know whether the MCG will have bounce like Perth or seam movement like Gabba, but the pitch will be suitable for fast bowling because of the six mm grass. Page said that there would not be enough cracks to help the spinners. Page said, 'Seven years ago the pitch was quite flat, we want exciting matches and exciting Test matches so we will leave more grass which plays a role for the bowlers.'

The wicket will be good for fast bowlers.

He said, 'But when the new ball becomes old then it will be good for batting. We'll lay down six mm of grass and see what happens. So will Jasprit Bumrah be excited after seeing the wicket? Page replied, 'All fast bowlers are excited to come here, although it is not as fast a wicket as Perth and Brisbane but we have been successful in making it suitable for fast bowling.'

Spinners won't get much help

Ravindra Jadeja plays more as a batting all-rounder in overseas conditions and Page said that is not much help for the spinners. He said, 'The pitch will not break to help the spinners and if you look at the longer format matches in the last four-five years, you will find that it is more suited to fast bowling than spin.'