India captain Rohit Sharma and other members of the batting unit had to begin their nets session in Melbourne on ‘not-so-useful’ pitches. The training surfaces on offer to the Indian team were much different in comparison to the actual wickets that are prepared for the match. With the ball keeping low, Rohit even found it difficult to deal with the bowling of part-timer Devdutt Padikkal. On the bowling of pacer Akash Deep, Rohit was also hit on the knee once.
The video featuring Rohit and Padikkal spread like wildfire on social media, with fans highlighting how difficult the India skipper is finding facing a part-timer on the practice wicket.
Rohit Sharma got beaten by Part-time Bowler Devdutt Padikkal in the nets pic.twitter.com/6iGlPXO6Nl
— Jyotirmay Das (@dasjy0tirmay) December 22, 2024
During the Sunday’s practice session, a delivery from pacer Akash Deep kept low and hit skipper Rohit Sharma on his left knee. While dismissing any concerns over Rohit’s fitness, Akash had revealed the low bounce on the pitch, saying that he felt that the practice surface was meant for white-ball cricket and kept low.
“Such minor wounds are not anything unusual when you are playing cricket. It is not a big concern. But I felt the practice wicket was meant for the white ball and was keeping low. It was difficult to leave. But there are no concerns at all,” the bowler had said as quoted by cricket.com.au.
Reports from Australia suggested that India was practicing on wickets that had been used for the Big Bash and were a bit worn out from use. Pictures from the MCG showed what appeared to slightly worn out wickets on which the Indian team had been doing its practice drills
The practice wicket that had been marked for team Australia looked a bit fresher.
However, on Monday morning, the MCG head curator Matt Page clarified that fresh pitches are only offered three days before the start of the match.
“Yeah, so, for us, three days out, we prepare test match pitches for here. If teams come and train before that, they get what pitches we have had. So, today we are on fresh pitches. If India had trained this morning, they would have been on those fresh pitches. So, it is stock standard procedure for us, three days out,” he said.
With ANI Inputs
