Indian cricket legend Ravi Shastri has rubbished claims that the Nagpur pitch for the first Test against Australia has been doctored to favour the home side.
Images of the pitch posted by SEN Cricket’s Bharat Sundaresan to Twitter went viral after it appeared the wicket was being prepared differently in sections – particularly to favour right-handers over left-handers.
Given that India have no front-line batsmen that are left-handers and Australia could have five, the curators have been accused of creating a wicket that will significantly disadvantage the away side.
While many have taken the view that the pitch is unfair, Shastri described those claims as “bullsh-t”.
“That’s bulls--t,” Shastri told SEN Sporstday.
“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.
“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.”
Shastri simply feels Australia will have to put up and shut up when it comes to the pitch as India are in their right to do what suits them.
“If the ball is going to turn from there, so be it,” Shastri said.
“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.”
Looking at pitches in Australia, Shastri doesn’t believe pitches are specifically designed to suit the home team but do suit the style of cricket they like to play.
“I wouldn’t say designed for the Australians,” Shastri said.
“Of course, when you look at the bounce, the pace, the grass of those surfaces (it suits Australia).
“I just watched a Test between Australia and South Africa and it was great, but when I woke up on the third day there was no cricket.”
The former coach and captain of India joins the likes of Adam Collins Gerard Whateley, Harsha Bhogle, Bharat Sundaresan, Peter Lalor, Nikesh Rughani and Daniel Norcross when SEN calls every ball of the series LIVE.
The first Test between India and Australia in Nagpur begins at 3 pm (AEDT) on Thursday.
Download the SEN app to listen to the Border-Gavaskar series for Apple and Android.