Amid high voltage drama, the India cricket team’s four-day practice match against England’s county side Essex was reduced to three days.
Indian skipper Virat Kohli (Photo: BCCI)
Amid high voltage drama over the condition of the pitch and the outfield, the India cricket team’s four-day practice match against England’s county side Essex was reduced to three days. The visitors were upset with the condition of the pitch as their preparation strategy for the Test series against England went haywire.
The decision to reduce the duration of practice match was taken during Tuesday afternoon’s net practice after having a look at the pitch. Though there was no official word on why the match was shortened, coach Ravi Shastri was seen having an animated discussion with local officials after getting a glimpse of the grassy pitch and a barren outfield that can cause injury while fielding.
The rest of the Indian support staff, including assistant coach Sanjay Bangar and bowling coach Bharat Arun, also took stock of the conditions and were seen having discussions with the ground staff.
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Given that the game is not a classified first-class match, it is confirmed that the Indian team will be using all 18 members of their Test squad.
Not wishing to be named, a senior member of the ground staff told PTI “all requests of the Indian team management have been accepted”.
When pressed if that included “shaving off the grass”, he simply said, “We have bent over backwards to accommodate the Indian team management’s demands. It is disappointing though because we had sold a lot of tickets for the fourth day (Saturday).”
Meanwhile, the Essex Chief Executive, Derek Bowden has denied all the rumours about outfield not being safe claiming that, “the decision has nothing to do with that. The reason the game has been cut to three days is because of the heat and the very busy schedule for the Test series.”
“We had a meeting with the ECB [England and Wales Cricket Board], the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] this morning and agreed to cut short the match. There is nothing wrong with the pitch at all, and we have had no complaints and no grumbles about it,” Derek told British media.
-With PTI inputs.
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