India captain MS Dhoni has said the decision to send Virat Kohli in in place of Shikhar Dhawan on the fourth morning was a late one, which resulted in “unrest” in the dressing room
Sidharth Monga at the Gabba20-Dec-20145:23
Match Point – ‘If the nets are no good, don’t bat in them’
The fourth day’s play at the Gabba began with India 26 behind and with nine wickets in hand, and with talk how these Indian batsmen were different: they would not get into a grim battle for a draw and roll over and die; they were going to go for the runs and set some sort of target for Australia.But even before they could get to attempting that, India were in turmoil. Two of their main batsmen injured themselves because of what they believed to be poor net pitches, and they did not even realise until five minutes before start of play that overnight batsman Shikhar Dhawan was not fit to bat immediately.So unimpressed were India with the practice facilities that they issued an official statement stating how the groundstaff had not paid heed to their requests for fresher pitches. Suddenly, all the simmering tension boiled over.ESPNcricinfo understands India are not happy that there is no gym at the Gabba. The only facility present at the stadium belongs to the Brisbane Lions, the AFL team that shares the stadium with cricket. When the Indians wanted to use the gym, the Lions were training at the facility, and turned down their request. More discontent surfaced with two of the players having to step out of the stadium to find vegetarian food on the third day of the Test.However, MS Dhoni conceded that India could have handled the early-morning crisis. The team knew that Dhawan had been hit on the hand, but realised he was not fit to bat only five minutes before 10am. “We went to practise, and the wicket wasn’t good for it,” Dhoni said. “A few of the batsmen batted, and Shikhar got hit and left. After that I had padded up and went in. He was a bit uncomfortable, but he didn’t react as to he won’t go out to bat. He came back to the dressing room, and Duncan [Fletcher] and I were there, and the by the time I finished my batting I too found the wicket to be a bit uneven.”We also came back early, but by the time we came back it was quite close to the start of play. And there we saw Shikhar wasn’t really 100% fit to go in to bat. It was quite late, and we could only give maybe five-10 minutes’ notice to Virat that he would go in to bat. That’s one area, which we could have handled a bit better, but it’s something that we will have to take it in our stride. We thought he [Dhawan] took a blow, but he was good enough to bat but he was not. As you saw he went into bat late.”That kind of a scenario, there is a bit of unrest in the dressing room. The calmness of the dressing room goes for a toss. It was a bit late to verbally resolve the problem. What was really needed was some kind of a partnership, 20-25 minutes batting and things would have been normal. But that didn’t happen. That was the area we lacked, and we couldn’t really capitalise on.”In hindsight, you could probably see Kohli did not really look settled. He, too, had taken a blow on the left forearm. He played 10 balls before playing Mitchell Johnson on. India went from 1 for 71 to 5 for 87, a collapse they never really recovered from, despite a brave half-century from Dhawan and spirited bowling in defence of just 127. Dhawan decided to bat on without going for scans, “playing through pain” at No. 8, and crossed 50 for the first time in six Tests, adding 55 to his overnight 26.Although Dhoni made more diplomatic comments at the post-match press conference, the statement released by India in the first session was strong. It said: “The Indian team has been asking for the fresh net practice wickets several times for last two days, which have not been provided. Instead of that, they [curators] have asked [us] to practice on worn-out wickets, which have uneven bounce. Because of that, two of our batsmen got injured today morning. One of the two batsmen, Shikar Dhawan, had a right wrist injury. Because of that he was unable to bat in the morning. He is being examined by our physio, and will assess his fitness in some time.”Dhoni was more sedate in his comments after the match. Asked about the overall facilities at the Gabba, Dhoni said, “It can improve. I don’t really want to create a controversy, but it can certainly improve.”ESPNcricinfo understands that such a request was indeed made to the groundsmen at the Gabba, but the Indian team was told those new pitches were being saved for future matches. The fresh practice pitches are being prepared on a specific time-frame, which means they will not be ready for use until a Brisbane Heat training session on December 23. India have not lodged an official complaint with Cricket Australia on the matter, though.The Gabba groundstaff was bemused and surprised at not just the complaint, but also that the request was made in the first place. Curator Kevin Mitchell jr prepares the practice wickets for a full week of training, with the intention that they wear in a similar style to the pitch used for the match. Ryan Harris, who missed selection due to injury for this Test, batted on the same practice surface on the fourth morning, facing fast bowler Ben Cutting, and reported no problems with the conditions. Harris even joked that he had no bruises because he used his bat.”The practice wickets are fine,” Mitchell said. “They wear just like a match pitch does and reflect what is happening in the middle. We have never had a complaint from another touring team.”Australia captain Steven Smith was on the side of the ground where Australia have not lost since 1988. “None of our players had any problems with those wickets, to be honest,” Smith said. “I think they’re very good practice wickets. They emulate pretty much what you get out in the middle. That’s what you want at your playing ground and I don’t think any of our players had any problems with them whatsoever.”