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The Indian cricket team's preparations for the Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground have been overshadowed by concerns over the quality of the practice pitches.
The team began training on Saturday, encountering used pitches that lacked the expected bounce, hindering their fast bowlers' preparations.
This comes amidst a backdrop of off-field tensions. A confrontation between Virat Kohli and an Australian journalist, who had taken unauthorised photos of Kohli's family, was followed by criticism of Ravindra Jadeja for not answering questions in English during a press conference, further fuelling the already intense India-Australia rivalry.
The team began their preparations on Saturday, December 21, and continued through Sunday before taking a break on Monday.
While the Test match pitch is expected to offer significant bounce, the practice wickets reportedly lacked carry, hindering the team's preparations.
Pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj and the others found it difficult to generate the expected bounce on the used pitches. Reports indicate that deliveries barely rose waist-high, even when the bowlers hit the deck hard.
Adding to the concerns, Captain Rohit Sharma received a blow to the knee from a low delivery during Sunday's training session. Akash Deep later confirmed that Rohit appeared fine by the end of the session, quelling fears of a serious injury.
Further fueling the controversy, two sets of fresh practice pitches with more pace and bounce were allocated to the MCG on Monday. The Australian team strategically delayed their training until Monday to utilise the fresher set of pitches.
Allocating fresh pitches earlier can lead to excessive wear and tear, potentially compromising their quality by the time of the Test match.
MCG Curator Matt Page clarified that it's standard practice to provide fresh pitches only three days before the game.