South Africa were bundled out for a paltry 79 runs in their first innings at Nagpur against India, registering their lowest score after entering the worldwide arena after the end of the apartheid era. That would put Australia at No. 3 followed by Pakistan, who were till recently the No. 2 side after their series win against England in the United Arab Emirates. If you get up and reach there [to the pitch of the ball] and there is a surface like that you can play on it. You have to stop cribbing and get on with the job at hand.
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Of the biggest losers, Tim Southee moved out of the top 10 and is now in 14th, while Peter Siddle dropped three places to 18th, despite picking up his 200th Test scalp in the third and final Test against New Zealand in Adelaide.
Hazlewood was a standout for Australia with the pink ball under lights, taking nine wickets for the match including a personal best of 6-70 in the second innings, zooming up 10 positions to enter the top 10 for the first time of his young, yet prolific career.
“Nothing wrong with that [matches finishing inside three days]”. It also brings to an end an 8-year sequence in which the Castle Lager Proteas went unbeaten in Test matches away from home in a total of 15 series. “Where does it tell me in the rulebook it can only swing and seam?” he added.
Smith showed plenty of resolve in Australia’s first innings at Adelaide Oval, the skipper fastidiously picking the gaps until he attempted to charge offspinner Mark Craig.
Shastri said those complaining about the pitches should understand that it is the lack of technique which is troubling batsmen, not the tracks.
“(Nagpur) was a Test match that was moving all the time. “In those circumstances that shot you avoid”, he said.
India’s last five wins at home since 2013 have all been achieved inside three days, indicating pitches were tailor-made for their spinners.
Murali Vijay is the top ranked India batsman in 12th position, while Virat Kohli has moved up one place to 16th.
“When we go overseas we don’t have any choices”. “I don’t see anyone complaining, it’s only some of them who have never played the game who are complaining”, Shastri opined. In India, the pitch is further queered by the fact that the Indian cricket board hardly makes any money from ticket sales in Test matches and is not really bothered about them finishing early.
While there is a good deal of truth in that, it is also a fact that turning tracks of the Indian sub-continent have usually got much more stick than seaming pitches. “Come and play here”.
“It’s exclusively whenever you play on tracks like this that you simply realise that you simply obtained to spend time on the crease”.
“It’s how you adapt and adjust”.
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“It is not a policy (to play on such pitches), it is the conditions that you get in India”. Pitches are not meant to turn on Day One itself.
