‘That’s not good for cricket. ICC needs to step in here’, says Ian Healy
Australia lost by an innings and 123 runs in the First Test against India at Nagpur. To bounce back, the Pat Cummins-led team tries to learn more about Nagpur’s VCA Stadium
Speaking on SEN on Monday, former Australia wicketkeeper Healy was furious calling the act “pathetic” –
So Cummins had planned to hold a practice session before leaving for New Delhi for the second Test. But their plans were thwarted by the local curators, leaving Australia great Ian Healy fuming at India’s “pathetic” act as he called for ICC intervention.
Healy said – “It’s really a shame that our plans to have some practice sessions on that wicket in Nagpur were foiled. It is not good, it is not good for cricket. ICC needs to intervene here. For him to water the wicket without thinking when requested for practice was terrible and needs to be improved.”
Earlier, Australia coach Andrew McDonald had told SEN that the practice session was not a “trap for naughty boys” but a chance for the visitors to adapt to “extreme” conditions.
McDonald said –
“It is very clear that this is not their intention with the surfaces they want to play on. We were expecting that, as I said before, we’ve been really clear about what we expect.”
“That’s exactly what we got when we got here. They are not the naughty boys today (planned session). We have a big squad of 17 players so there are different people in different training schedules. There will be some players of the game who will come down , So they will appear in training. But it’s definitely not a naughty boy, it’s just preparing for the next game.”