PUNE: While Australia are basking in the glory after trouncing Virat Kohli’s India by 333 runs in the opening Test in Pune, the pitch that was used for the Test has faced a lot of criticism.

Although Indian pitches are spinners’ best friend, the one at Pune’s Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium started to turn from day one. So much so that, in the match, which got over in under three days, both the teams used spinners from either ends right from the start.

While Shane Warne, right before the toss, had said that the pitch looks like a day eight pitch, there are reports suggesting that Indian team management forced the MCA, which was hosting the Test, to change the nature of the pitch a week before the game. It was also reported that the pitch was not watered for eight days before the first take began on Feb 23.

After MCA curator Pandurang Salgaoncar refused to pay heed to the request of making a turner, a member of the Indian team management took the matter to Daljit Singh and Dhiraj Parsana, members of the BCCI pitches committee. The duo, it is reported, did not agree to the demand.

“When the MCA refused to prepare a rank turner, the senior member of the team management took the issue to the state association curator Pandurang Salgaoncar. When he too resisted, the matter was placed before the BCCI curators [Parsana and Daljit], but even they were a tad reluctant. Then, the BCCI management [not the Committee of Administrators, the cricket board employees] came into the picture. The ground staff had been ordered to remove the grass completely. Things were hijacked from the local curators,” The Indian Express quoted a MCA member as saying.

Published in Dawn, February 28th, 2017