India v Australia Test series: Australians stunned by Ranchi pitch

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This was published 7 years ago

India v Australia Test series: Australians stunned by Ranchi pitch

By Andrew Wu
Updated

RANCHI: Australia have walked into an India-endorsed stitch up as suspicion grows the hosts have been delivered a tailor-made wicket designed to blunt Australia's pace weapons and dull the effect of Nathan Lyon.

The Australian camp was stunned on Tuesday by the state of the pitch at the Jharkhand State Cricket Association Stadium as the prospect of another short Test looms large on a strip expected to play low and slow.

Local officials did their best to control the latest pitch doctoring storm, trying in vain to restrict inspection of the pitch to the captain and coach. They banned players from taking pictures, but close-up images have emerged of the flint-hard, bone-dry and grassless surface, which one Australian described as the most "ridiculous" pitch he had seen.

The toss on Thursday now shapes as one of the most important of captain Steve Smith's career as losing it would expose Australia's batsmen to the worst conditions for the game.

Rough deck: The pitch square at Ranchi.

Rough deck: The pitch square at Ranchi.

The lack of bounce will not help Lyon, and takes the fire out of Australia's speed demons Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood.

While there are theories the black soil in Ranchi will not produce a raging turner for Ravi Ashwin, his spin partner Ravindra Jadeja will be suited with his angle into the stumps of the right-hander. The same can also be said of Steve O'Keefe, Australia's shock match-winner in the first Test.

The pitch should also be conducive to the stump to stump line Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav used with great effect last week.

Pacemen Cummins and Jackson Bird struggled to get the ball above waist height on the practice wicket, which is believed to be even dryer than the Test strip.

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"I can't really tell what it's going to do," Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis said. "I think obviously it's going to spin, apparently it won't bounce as much as some of the other wickets but it's just something you wait and see."

The Board of Control for Cricket in India is already under fire for producing a pitch in Pune that was rated "poor" by the International Cricket Council. This pitch has been months in the making and was produced in consultation with the BCCI, Ranchi curator SB Singh confirmed.

"Officially it has to be decided by the guidelines, the state curator and the curators representing the BCCI," Singh said.

The mystery surrounding the pitch means Australia are no closer to finalising a replacement for Mitchell Marsh. Glenn Maxwell, Stoinis, Usman Khawaja and Ashton Agar are all in contention.

Cummins, however, is guaranteed to play his first Test since his debut in Johannesburg almost 5 ago.

As injury-prone quick James Pattinson said he did not want to be considered for the tour, Cummins said he was ready for his Test return.

NSW bowling coach Geoff Lawson had questioned the wisdom of recalling Cummins after only one first-class game. But Cummins would be likely to bowl more overs had he stayed in Australia and played in the Shield than on India's spin-friendly tracks.

"I feel like I have played a lot, bowled a lot of overs, a lot of times had to back up day after day and the body has been recovering really well," Cummins, who has had an unchecked run since returning in October, said.

"So, pretty much the summer has gone as well as it could have and I feel as ready as I ever have been."

Cummins says he was shocked by the call-up even though selectors had left the door ajar when they named the touring party in January.

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"I don't think I thought it was going to happen this quickly," Cummins said.

"I'd always had an eye on the Ashes next year just thinking that I had to play three or four Shield games to put my hand up for selection."

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