The Australian media and former Aussie cricketers made a lot of noise about the Indian pitches on which the Australian cricketers would play even before the start of the first test match which was played at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium, Nagpur. The former Aussie cricketer Ian Healy went on to say that Aussies will win if fair pitches (good for batting, they spin but much later in the match) are made and Indians will win if unfair pitches (which spin from first day and ball jumps on them ridiculously) are prepared.
Many Australian media channels even claimed that the Nagpur pitch had been doctored in order to benefit the Indians and it would be difficult for the Aussies to play on a rank turner pitch. Though the Indian spinners bowled pretty well in the match and took 16 out of 20 wickets, still the pitch was not as helpful for the spinners as it was claimed to be by the Aussie media, at least on the first day of the match when the Aussies got wrapped up for just 177 runs.
The cricket expert and commentator Harsha Bhogle has made a tweet regarding the pitches and he is being praised by online users for his intelligent take. He has compared pitches with people and asked everyone to know them first before giving judgement on them.
Harsha Bhogle’s tweet read, “As we do with people, so must we do with pitches. Get to know them before passing judgement on their character.”
As we do with people, so must we do with pitches. Get to know them before passing judgement on their character.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) February 10, 2023
Here are some selected reactions on this tweet of Harsha Bhogle:
Predicting a pitch is like predicting the stock markets! No pundits right!! @GarvHinduHonePe @sdjoshi55
— Soma (@Visalmama) February 10, 2023
Is this series going to be talked of only around pitches or we’ll discuss about cricket too
— Mayank (@nofiltermayank) February 10, 2023
Decide on what you want? Aussies played badly.. they got caught in the pitch discussion and left their game back in the pavilion and now you go on a tangent 😀😀
— RR 🇮🇳 (@libran0101) February 10, 2023
This is what I love about the #INDvsAUS test matches.. it is so competitive and when the Aussies start cribbing even before bowling the first ball, it shows how scared they are.. 3-0 for India for sure
— Rajesh Tiwari 🇮🇳🇬🇧 (@rajeshdottiwari) February 10, 2023
https://twitter.com/pramodkumarsin9/status/1623911067800961025
And the quality of the bowlers bowling on it as well. Ashwin and Jadeja deserve plaudits for blocking the runs and creating the wicket-taking opportunities.
— Saurabh Malhotra (@MalhotraSaurabh) February 10, 2023
For me it’s quite simple. Is India breaking any rules? Two will India be batting on another pitch? If the answer to both these questions is No than let’s shut the front door and carry on with the cricket & may the team that plays better win.
— khurram Begg (@KhurramBegg) February 10, 2023
Never judge a pitch by it's color!
— Arnomic (@ArnologicB3ats) February 10, 2023
The Australian media by focusing on the pitch has created doubts in their team and allowed an excuse for failure Mind games boomerang
— Kishore Sidhwani (@SidhwaniKishore) February 10, 2023
Many experts are of the opinion that Aussies gave unnecessary importance to the pitch rather than focusing on cricket and this is why they suffered a big loss in the first test match. Which team according to you will win the second test match that will be played at Arun Jaitley Stadium, New Delhi from 17 Feb 2023?