The first India vs England Test match in Chennai last year saw the tourists thrashing the Virat Kohli-led side by a huge margin of 227 runs. Visiting captain Joe Root notched a double hundred, scoring 218 in the first innings. In pursuit of 420-run target, the hosts were bowled out for 192.
After more than a year to that stunning defeat, a report carried out by The Times of India has claimed that the pitch curators appointed by the BCCI went against the directions received by the Indian team management. It has been learned that some of the board official now want the matter to be investigated.
“Ravi Shastri and Bharat Arun were at the Chidambaram Stadium in Chepauk on the evening of February 4, a day before the start of the Test against England, the head coach and the bowling coach explicitly told the curator and the groundsmen that the pitch should be left the way it is, and the water and roller should not be used. Having conveyed it with absolute clarity, they left the stadium with the rest of the team,” the report quoted a source as saying.
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The report further stated that once Shastri and Bharat Arun left the venue, the curator told the groundsmen that he has been asked by a higher authority to water the pitch roll it.
“He (curator) watered the pitch, brought out the roller, and the next morning, the wicket was a flat deck,” the sources added.
The coaches were livid with the curator for not heeding to the team management’s instructions, the report added. Later, the team management spoke with the board and made an official request to change the curator. The BCCI officials, unaware of the development, arranged for another senior curator who then prepared the track as per the strategy of the hosts.
India bounced back in the series with a 317-run win. Ashwin picked 8 wickets while Axar Patel scalped 7.
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