The Indian team has expressed dissatisfaction with the practice pitches ahead of the fourth Test against Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), blaming their variable bounce for the hit that Rohit Sharma took on his knee but MCG curator Matt Page has defended the tracks by saying that ‘standard protocol’ has been followed. Rohit developed swelling on his left knee as he tried to play a throwdown from support staff member Dayanand Garani and didn’t take further part in the nets on Sunday. The side opted not to practice on Monday.
It was learnt the skipper needed icing at night and the team think-tank held the used pitch’s uneven bounce responsible for the injury scare. The Indian team had sent its training schedule two months ago but the MCG curator stuck to the standard operating procedure of giving a new practice track only three days prior to the Test match, which begins on December 26 in this case.
“So for us, three days out, we prepare pitches for here. If teams come and play before that, they get what pitches we’ve had,” Page told reporters about why India didn’t get a pitch that would resemble the centre strip.
“So today, we’re on fresh pitches. If we needed to play this morning, they would have been on those fresh pitches. Stock standard procedure for us, three days out. We do our pitches that we’re going to have for our Test match,” Page added.
1st Picture – Pitches for Australia for the practice at MCG.
2nd Picture – Pitches for India for the practice at MCG. (RevSportz). pic.twitter.com/wGEx9tZJxW
— Tanuj Singh (@ImTanujSingh) December 23, 2024
When asked if he has had the Indian schedule and BCCI had correspondence with Cricket Australia, he responded in affirmative. “Yes, they gave us schedule. There has been correspondence between CA and Indian board and the extent of those conversations, I don’t know,” Page informed.
‘MCG pitch will help fast bowlers’
The iconic MCG won’t have the bounce of Perth or the seam movement of Gabba but it will still be pace-friendly with 6mm of grass covering. Page said it won’t crack up enough to help the spinners.
“Seven years ago, we were quite flat, we want to create exciting an contest and exciting Test matches, so we will leave more grass, that brings the bowlers into equation.
“But it is still good for batting once the new ball goes off. We keep 6mm grass and we would monitor that as we get in,” Page elaborated.
The decision to make it bowler-friendly was taken in 2017 after the MCG track was deemed as a flat deck. “In 2017, we sat down as an organisation and discussed where we wanted to go and we agreed that it was about producing wickets for thrilling Test matches.It gives bowlers a chance to come into the game but also batters if they play well.”
So will Jasprit Bumrah be excited after having a look at the track? “All quick bowlers get excited when they come here now although it is not as quick as Perth and Brisbane but we have managed to get some pace on it,” Page answered.
“Every wicket in Australia is different and we have also got our unique character.”
While Ravindra Jadeja is more of a batting all-rounder in overseas conditions, Page said there is not much help for spinners now. “It doesn’t really break for spinners here and if you see long-format games over the last four to five years, you will see, it has been more seam-friendly than spin,” Page observed.
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