While the touring Australian men's cricket team had planned to practice on the Nagpur pitch after their innings and 132-run defeat to India at the same venue-the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium- their idea couldn't materalise because of the groundstaff.
Notably, the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy had ended inside 3 days with the duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja scalping 16 of the 20 wickets. After winning the toss and opting to bat, the visitors managed to score 177 and were bowled out for a mere 91 in the second innings with all their wickets falling inside a single session on Saturday.
In a bid to bounce back and gear up for the rest of the series, the Pat Cummins-led side had planned a practice session on the Nagpur wicket on what would have been Day 4 of the Test match. However, they had to cancel that scheduled session upon learning that the pitch had been watered on the previous day.
Even though such a practice is not unusual, a report carried by Cricket.com.au, the Australians had requested that the pitch should be kept in tact.
Australia include left-arm spinner in squad
Nevertheless, the Aussies have been forced to introspect after that defeat and have already called for a reinforcement, including left-arm spinner Matthew Paul Kuhnemann in their squad for the second Test. Meanwhile, a separate report suggests that David Warner could also be axed following a string of low scores and a failure in each of the two innings in Nagpur. Off-spinning all-rounder Travis Head is likely to take his place.
The second Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy is all set to be played at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi beginning on February 17.
Meanwhile, India have a few issues to sort out themselves with the form of KL Rahul a concern and an in-form batter Shubman Gill still sitting outside the Playing 11.