The Indians are distressed over the practice wickets provided to them at the ’Gabba.
The side’s media manager Dr. R. Baba revealed here on Saturday that Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli were injured in the morning, before the fourth day’s play commenced, since they had to bat on practice surfaces that were “worn out.”
Dhawan was struck on his right wrist and Kohli was hit on his left forearm.
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Dr. Baba said, “Kohli’s injury is not serious. But Dhawan will be taken for a scan. He batted after taking painkillers.”
He revealed, “The Indian team had asked for fresh net practice wickets several times for the last two days. They have not been provided. Instead, they have asked us to practice on worn out wickets which have uneven bounce.”
Dr. Baba added, “Because of that two of our batsmen got injured this morning.”
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Both injuries were sustained when the Indian bowlers were operating at Dhawan and Kohli.
After the Test match, Indian captain M.S. Dhoni while commenting on the nature of the practice pitches said, “I don’t want to create a controversy but the net facilities can improve.”
While it is true that practice wickets here too tend to develop cracks in these parts because of the heat, a former Australian cricketer said, “Generally, we don’t bowl short at the batsmen on the third or fourth day of the practice wickets here because of the uneven bounce. We bowl up to them.”
A spokesperson for the Queensland Cricket Association said, “There were three new practice pitches but these were meant for Queensland’s Twenty20 matches next week. They were not ready for use. The Australians too did not practice on the new pitches.”