Border-Gavaskar Trophy: 'Straight-up doctoring,' claim Aussie experts on Nagpur pitch, demand ICC intervention

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With less than a day for the start of the high-octane Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2022-23, Australian experts have minced no words in criticising the Nagpur pitch for the first Test against India.

According to those who have seen the pitch from close quarters, only the centre of the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium (VCA) wicket was watered and rolled while the area where bowlers will target left-handers was left brazenly dry.

The same has not gone down with Australian cricket experts and former cricketers. Reacting to the pitch, senior Australian cricket expert Robert Craddock said on SEN’s podcast,”It’s a multi-toned pitch. The classic saying about pitches is, 'Oh, it’s the same for everyone”.

“When the Gabba pitch too much grass was left on it, people were saying, 'Yes, it was not a great wicket, but it was the same everyone. But you can’t say that about this pitch, Australia has six left-handers in their top eight, so if you start multi-preparing parts of the deck that’s straight-up pitch doctoring, it’s poor,” he added.

Former Australian pacer Jason Gillespie told SEN WA Breakfast, “I think the Indian curators are looking at a way for India to have an advantage. They potentially think spin will play a huge role and that for the best chance to beat Australia will be to play to their strength.”

Further, former cricketer Simon O’Donnell has demanded an ICC intervention. “The ICC should step in and do something about it, if they think it’s not right. If they think the pitch is not right, there’ll be an ICC referee at the game and the ICC will be watching this game.But there’s so many when it comes to India, we have all of these discussions, and nothing seems to happen," he has reckoned.

As per a report by Jagran, India coach Rahul Dravid had expressed his displeasure on the surface on offer in Nagpur. He had an animated chat with Nagpur pitch curator Abhijeet Piprode before demanding for a rank turner just three days ahead of the Test match.

Notably, If Matthew Renshaw and Ashton Agar hold their spots, six of Australia's top eight batters would be southpaws. The dry patch on one end of the wicket is expected to give ample advantage to the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel to run through the vistors' batting line-up. Since the start of 2017, Ashwin has picked 94 wickets at an average of 19.89 against the left-handers. Jadeja, on the other hand, has 44 wickets at an average of 26.93, while Axar has scalped 12 wickets at an average of 23.

Former Australia captain Steve Smith has also also raised concerns over the nature of the Nagpur pitch. He has already cautioned his teammates against the Indian left-arm spinners (Jadeja and Axar)

"Pretty dry, particularly one end," Smith told reporters when asked about the surface.

"I think it will take a bit of spin, particularly the left-arm spinner taking it into our left-handers. There's a section there that's quite dry.

"Other than that, I can't really get a good gauge on it. I don’t think there will be a heap of bounce in the wicket, I think it will be quite skiddy for the seamers and maybe a bit of up-and-down movement as the game goes on.

"The cracks felt quite loose. I'm not entirely sure – we'll wait and see," he said ahead of the match.

Indian camp looks relaxed at the moment. Wicketkeeper-batsman KL Rahul has hinted that India would be tempted to enter the match with three spinners, adding that there should be no surprise that the "pitch would turn".

"We know how the pitches are going to be in India and what to expect," said the opener. "Keeping that in mind, we've practiced playing against spin … we've tried to get used to spinning conditions and see how we can score runs.

"There will be a temptation to play three spinners, we're playing in India, there's no surprise that the pitch is going to spin," Rahul has said.