After a humiliating but unexpected defeat in the first test match against Australia, local authorities in Pune have pointed at external interference for the dust bowl that saw Australia crush India within three days. They have claimed that the Indian team management and a section of the Board of Control for Cricket in India “hijacked the Pune pitch” and forced them to change its nature.
According to a Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) member, there’d been pressure on them from a senior member of the team management to prepare a “rank turner” from over a week before the Test. And despite being informed that the Pune pitch would turn “spiteful” if left bereft of grass, they insisted on having a “bald” pitch. The result was a pitch that saw a relatively unknown left-arm spinner ran through India batting order with a 12-wicket haul.
