The Border-Gavaskar Trophy hasn’t started in a good manner for the Aussies as they not only suffered a humiliating defeat by an innings and 132 runs but also scored their lowest ever total in India in the second innings of the match. While the Australians got bundled out for just 177 runs in their first innings, they were not even able to touch the three digit mark in their second innings as the whole team got out for merely 91 runs.
On the other hand, Rohit Sharma led Indian team batted pretty well and posted a good total of 400 runs on the score board. While Hitman scored a century (120), Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel also played beautiful knocks of 70 and 84 runs, respectively. Mohammed Shami ended the Indian innings with style as he scored quick 37 runs which included 2 fours and 3 sixes.
Even before the start of the series, a lot was said and discussed about the Indian pitches by many former Aussie cricketers but the manner in which the Indians batted, everyone is sure that the visitors got carried away with the talk of pitches and they should have focused more on their game instead of the pitch. Some Australian media houses even went on to claim that the pitch was doctored in order to benefit the Indians. If this was not enough, they claimed that DRS was rigged when Usman Khawaja was given out in the first innings and then they accused Ravindra Jadeja of ball tampering when he rubbed a pain relief cream on his finger during the match.
Though the Aussie skipper Pat Cummins accepted in the post-match conference that the Nagpur pitch was a little difficult to play but it was not at all unplayable, still there are some Australian and England journos who haven’t stopped crying over pitch, DRS and pain-relief cream. Here are some tweets:
#1
Have India changed the pitch again?#INDvAUS
— Andrew McGlashan (@andymcg_cricket) February 11, 2023
#2
It’s probably important for the Australians not to drop their heads on day two after dropping their Head on day one. #sorry 🙊 #BGT #INDvAUS
— Melinda Farrell (@melindafarrell) February 9, 2023
#3
Perhaps the most impressive part of pitch doctoring is when you can make the surface change depending on which team is batting…
— Peter Miller (@TheCricketGeek) February 9, 2023
#4
India's No. 10 making it look like a road#INDvAUS
— Andrew McGlashan (@andymcg_cricket) February 11, 2023
#5
Is the Nagpur Test "pitch doctoring" fair game or against the spirit of cricket? #AUSvIND
— Vossy & Brandy SEN 1170AM Sydney (@VossyBrandySEN) February 8, 2023
#6
"It's absolute crap to say we doctor pitches in Aus. India are doctoring this pitch to favour their Test team. The ICC need to say this is not taking out game anywhere. There's enough challenges in front of Test cricket that are weakening its resolve already"
– Simon O'Donnell
— SEN Breakfast (@SENBreakfast) February 8, 2023
#7
Ravindra Jadeja clearly applied an artificial substance on his spinning fingers while bowling, taking it from Siraj. This action is prohibited under the ICC Code of Conduct. Will @ICC penalize Jadeja for ball tampering or 'conduct contrary to the spirit of the game'?💰🤮 #INDvAUS
— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket) February 10, 2023
#8
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I have a sneaking suspicion DRS is rigged #BorderGavaskarTrophy #rigged
— Trent Glover (@trent_glover) February 11, 2023
#9
I wouldn’t worry, Australia are just following the India method of getting smashed in the first Border-Gavaskar Test before staging a comeback. Expecting Cummins to fly home after this game and a net bowler – maybe the Ashwin lookalike- to bowl them to victory at Ahmedabad
— Ben Gardner (@Ben_Wisden) February 11, 2023
#10
I expect if Jadeja hadn’t rubbed ointment on his hand that Australia would have won this game by 600 runs
— Ian Higgins (@1an_Higgins) February 11, 2023
#11
As is common practice, Australia’s second innings will be once again played on the doctored wicket instead of the road India got to bat on
— Ian Higgins (@1an_Higgins) February 11, 2023
The second test match between India and Australia will be played from 17 Feb 2023 at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi, and soon we will get to hear some weird things about Delhi pitch too but it won’t affect us as we know that the Aussies are habitual of crying over pitches.
