After defeating Australia in the first test, India will now meet the visitors on 17 February in Delhi for the second test of the prestigious Border-Gavaskar Series. But the third match has seen a change of plans as it is being shifted to the city of Indore from Dharamsala.
Due to harsh winter conditions, the ground in Himachal Pradesh was not prepared to host the game for the third game of the four-match series, which was originally scheduled to be played in Dharamsala. Just like any other issue, the topic has blown up in the Australian media.
“That’s the only thing you could think of?”- Aakash Chopra
One of the Australian outlets has made a big deal out of the change of venue. Aakash Chopra through his You-Tube channel has drawn attention to the fact that rather than supporting their side, the Australian media appears to be working against them.
“The third Test match between India and Australia has been moved from Dharamsala. They have taken it to the Indore ground. The pitch is generally extremely flat on the Indore ground but if we believe Fox Cricket, only spinners dominate there. If you have friends like that, why do you need enemies?”
“Viru ( Sehwag) has also scored a double hundred here. When an ODI match happened here recently, 300 runs were scored. Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, and Devon Conway scored centuries. 400-450 runs are scored here in ODI matches and you people are feeling scared. But there is a channel named Fox Cricket, which is from Australia, they have said that the venue has been changed and there Ashwin’s bowling average is 12.5. That’s the only thing you could think of?” Said, Chopra.
Indore-Flat pitch offering a mountain of runs
As the batter-turned-commentator himself mentioned the pitch in Indore is a flat one, typically a batters paradise. In the test that has been played before, both have been pretty high scoring.
In the 2016 Indore Test match against New Zealand, India scored 557/5 in their opening innings, with Virat Kohli (211) and Ajinkya Rahane (188) shining. In the other Test played at the location, the hosts amassed 493/6 thanks to Mayank Agarwal’s 243 against Bangladesh in their lone innings.
He further explained a how pitch like this could just be the Aussies best chance to pluck out a win or a draw in the series rather than thinking about opposition bowlers’ averages.