IND vs AUS: Ravi Shastri refutes ‘doctored’ Nagpur pitch claims

Former India head coach Ravi Shastri has outrightly rejected claims that the Nagpur pitch has been doctored to favour the hosts ahead of the first Test match between India and Australia. The two heavyweights are set to lock horns in a four-match Test series which will commence on February 9 at the Vidarbha Cricket Association (VCA) Stadium in Nagpur.

While there has been much speculation surrounding the pitch in Nagpur, many have claimed that the pitch curators are working towards providing a wicket that would assist the home side. Meanwhile, former India cricketer and head coach Ravi Shastri has rubbished the claims of the management working on doctored pitch ahead of the first red-ball contest.

Plenty of rumours have surfaced that the wicket is being prepared in a way so that it ends up being friendly to the right-handed batters (as India’s top batters are mostly right-handed) and problematic for left-handed ones. The fact that Australia have plenty of left-handed batters in their squad hence, these rumours are surfacing rapidly.

“That’s bulls**t. It’s more hype than anything else surrounding this first Test match. It always happens, you get 15mm grass, 18mm grass or 12mm grass in different places around the ground, at the end of this first Test, I’m sure there’ll be someone who scores a hundred,” Shastri told SEN Sporstday.

“If someone can get a hundred or 80+ on that pitch, they’ve played well and he will go and say, ‘What’s wrong with the pitch? You stay there, you apply yourself, your shot selection is good, you get runs’. But if you go out there and think you’re going to smash every ball, good luck to you,” added Shastri.

We never complained about pitches: Ravi Shastri

India’s former head coach believes that the visitors should simply concentrate on playing quality cricket and the hosts are in their right to prepare the kind of surface that suits them and also reminded that there’s a match referee to supervise the proceedings.

“If the ball is going to turn from there, so be it,” Shastri mentioned.

“So what? It’s home conditions, do what suits you, both teams have to play on the surface, there’s a match referee who is the boss, it’s as simple as that.”

“We never complained about pitches, in my career we never complained about a simple pitch.”

“No excuses, just get on with it, at the end of three days no one’s going to get killed on that surface.”

“The quality of the camera lenses is so good, they can make green grass look brown, that’s what you expect in India, come on.”