NAGPUR, INDIA - FEBRUARY 08: Groundskeepers are seen preparing the pitch prior to a Australia training session at Vidarbha Cricket Association Ground on February 08, 2023 in Nagpur, India. (Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
Australia has been forced to cancel plans to train on the Nagpur pitch following their first Test loss to India after ground staff failed to heed the request and watered the pitch overnight.
The Aussies had requested to use the centre and practice pitches on what should have been day four of the Test match, but ground staff spent the afternoon watering the strip and the practice nets, forcing the team to cancel their Sunday training session.
The impromptu training session comes after a humiliating defeat for the Australians in Nagpur, managing just 91 runs in the second innings to fall to by an innings and 132 runs.
VCA Stadium's pitch emerged as one of the big talking points from the first Test, with speculation about pitch-doctoring emerging after curators produced a spin-friendly pitch.
Australian batsmen openly struggled on the surface, with head coach Andrew McDonald admitting they weren't "proactive" enough.
"We felt as though we probably weren't as proactive as what we needed to be in the extreme conditions," McDonald said after the match.
"In Galle [last year] we showed that in Test match one [against Sri Lanka] where we were really proactive. And in this instance, we probably weren't and that showed up in the second innings.
"If you stand still and look to defend for long periods of time against that quality spin line-up you've got pretty much a ball with a number on it and unfortunately, we weren't able to get into the method that we wanted to apply.
"We saw very little sweeping which is something that we valued leading in as well. So we'll review why that was the case. And there's no doubt that when you're under extreme pressure like that, and you're behind the game sometimes you narrow in and we need to be more expansive than that.
"I thought Steve Smith summed it up really well after he came off and said we're going to have to be brave, take some risks, take the ball down the ground, push some fielders out and give ourselves the ability to rotate the strike. They were able to crowd us, swarm us and we weren't able to push the fielders back."
The second test between Australia and India gets underway on February 17 at Arun Jaitley Stadium in New Delhi.
