"This is pretty ridiculous, is this in spirit of game?"- Australian fans react to Nagpur pitch for 1st Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy

The pitch at Nagpur's Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium sparked a debate on social media even before the first ball of the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series was bowled.Photos of the pitch and the treatment from VCA Stadium curators have surfaced online. The wicket looks like a spin-friendly one, which is not surprising considering how the wicket in Nagpur has behaved previously.Journalist Bharat Sundaresan shared an update on the treatment of the pitch and wrote on social media:&quot;Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends.&quot;Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus5297378Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgAustralian fans were surprised to note this development. They questioned if this was in the spirit of the game, and some fans even labeled the tactic 'ridiculous'. Here are some of the top tweets from Australian fans and journalists:The Spence@adambspencerIf it is true that a pitch is being prepared unevenly - eg to take more spin to left handlers than right handers or behave differently at certain lengths …How is that not doctoring / cheating? twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus15378Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgIf it is true that a pitch is being prepared unevenly - eg to take more spin to left handlers than right handers or behave differently at certain lengths …How is that not doctoring / cheating? twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Anthony Sharwood ❄️@antsharwoodThis pitch clearly prepared to favour local spinners is like sandpaper in plain sight without even trying to hide it in your pocket twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus5378Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgThis pitch clearly prepared to favour local spinners is like sandpaper in plain sight without even trying to hide it in your pocket twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Melinda Farrell@melindafarrellIt wouldn’t be a #BGT in India without intrigue surrounding the pitch! Nothing gets past the eagle-eyed @beastieboy07. I suspect this series won’t be as feisty as 2017 but I do expect it to be a cracker! twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus1047Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgIt wouldn’t be a #BGT in India without intrigue surrounding the pitch! 😀Nothing gets past the eagle-eyed @beastieboy07. 👀 I suspect this series won’t be as feisty as 2017 but I do expect it to be a cracker! twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Oliver Caffrey@ollycaffreyThis went on only after the Australians had left the stadium for the day. It was very interesting, to say the least twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus255Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgThis went on only after the Australians had left the stadium for the day. It was very interesting, to say the least twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Michael Bevan@mbevan12Maximum spin, minimal reverse swing for the quicks. Go the Aussies twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus214Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgMaximum spin, minimal reverse swing for the quicks. Go the Aussies 💪 twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Tom O'Neil@thomasjameoneilIm all for home teams skewing things in their favour but this seems a step too far given Aus is LH heavy and India is the opposite.Surely there are laws around not doctoring parts of the pitch pre-match. twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus515Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgIm all for home teams skewing things in their favour but this seems a step too far given Aus is LH heavy and India is the opposite.Surely there are laws around not doctoring parts of the pitch pre-match. twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Daniel Garb@DanielGarbDon’t mind pitch conditions favouring a home team, that’s part of Test Cricket. But this is pretty ridiculous...#INDvAUS twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…Bharat Sundaresan@beastieboy07Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus1468Interesting treatment of the pitch in Nagpur. The groundstaff watered the entire centre of the surface &amp; only the length areas outside the left-hander’s leg stump &amp; then rolled only the centre, stopping short every time they got to the good length areas at both ends #IndvAus https://t.co/Myr2ZblqCgDon’t mind pitch conditions favouring a home team, that’s part of Test Cricket. But this is pretty ridiculous...#INDvAUS twitter.com/beastieboy07/s…David Kettle@DragonKettle@beastieboy07 Is this in the spirit of the game?1424@beastieboy07 Is this in the spirit of the game?Tauseef Satti@TazzSatti@beastieboy07 @Uz_Khawaja how about batting RH on this pitch? (Looks ok to bat RH)@beastieboy07 @Uz_Khawaja how about batting RH on this pitch? (Looks ok to bat RH)sam 🇳🇿🔰@wpfcsam@beastieboy07 Nothing wrong with preparing a dustbowl, I’m all for it. But specifically wrecking outside off stump for Australia’s numerous lefties (Warner, Khawaja, Head, Carey, Renshaw, Agar plus the tail) when India have likely no lefties in their top 7 is disgraceful33518@beastieboy07 Nothing wrong with preparing a dustbowl, I’m all for it. But specifically wrecking outside off stump for Australia’s numerous lefties (Warner, Khawaja, Head, Carey, Renshaw, Agar plus the tail) when India have likely no lefties in their top 7 is disgracefulAnthony Spiteri@anthonyspiteri@ganeshkyaba @beastieboy07 It’s cheating is what it is… in every moral sense of the game you can’t prepare certain areas of the pitch differently. Needs to be prepared evenly. If others do it around the world it’s never as blatant as this!29@ganeshkyaba @beastieboy07 It’s cheating is what it is… in every moral sense of the game you can’t prepare certain areas of the pitch differently. Needs to be prepared evenly. If others do it around the world it’s never as blatant as this!John Shadlow@JohnShadlow@beastieboy07 Sure, home ground advantage, and local pitch prep is normal, but surely the pitch must be prepared consistently across the whole surface?@beastieboy07 Sure, home ground advantage, and local pitch prep is normal, but surely the pitch must be prepared consistently across the whole surface?Australia will likely have 5 to 7 left-handed batters in the lineup for the Nagpur TestAustralian fans on social media have been left miffed by the pitch update from the VCA Stadium because the traveling contingent could have around five to seven left-handed batters in their playing XI for the game. David Warner, Usman Khawaja, Ashton Agar, Travis Head and Alex Carey are all left-handed batters.Meanwhile, India do not have too many left-handed batters in their lineup. Hence, the Aussies feel that the home team is preparing the pitch in such a way that the right-handers find it easier to bat than the left-handers.Fans should note that the final pitch report for the first Test will only be known on the morning of Thursday, February 9. The match will start at 9:30 am IST at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium.

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