'That’s not good for cricket, ICC needs to step in here' - Ian Healy on India's pathetic pitch act in Nagpur

India swept past Australia in three days in what was a riveting Test match for the hosts from the start. The Australian batters didn't have any answer for the Indian spin duo of Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin. Jadeja completed his fifer in the first innings while Ashwin completed his fifer in the second innings. Rohit Sharma was the first centurion of the series after his brilliant 120 knock on a tricky wicket. Jadeja and Axar Patel also scored valuable fifties to make sure India had a healthy lead.

Once India were bowled out, everyone knew it will be a gigantic task for Team Australia to turn around the momentum of the match in their favour. Australia got bundled out for 91 in the afternoon session on Day three within 33 overs which was humiliating, to say the least. The team management then decided to practice on the Nagpur wicket on Day 4 just to adapt to the sub-continent pitches. Their plans went to fail after the groundstaff had already watered the pitch along with the nets area.

Australian legend Ian Healy while speaking about the situation on SEN cricket termed it as "pathetic". He said, "It's really embarrassing the scuppering of our plans to get some practice sessions on that Nagpur wicket,” Healy said. “That’s not good, that’s just not good for cricket. The ICC needs to step in here. For them to water the wicket unceremoniously when it was requested for practice is horrible and that has to improve."

It’s pretty clear isn’t it, their intent with the surfaces: Australia head coach

Australian head coach also spoke about the situation earlier. He said, “It’s pretty clear isn’t it, their intent with the surfaces they want to play on. We were expecting that coming in so as I said before, we’ve been really clear on what we expected."

The next Test of the series is set to be played out in Delhi starting on February 17, 2023. India would be hoping to add another victory at home when the two teams start the second Test. Meanwhile, Australian fans would be hoping for some sort of a comeback to give them some hope in the series.

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