Team India started practicing for the Melbourne Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) from Saturday. India were provided four pitches for practice. But the Indian team was not happy with their quality. There was neither bounce nor pace in these pitches. Regarding this, Team India had alleged that the used pitches were given to them for practice. However, now the curator of MCG has given a statement on this matter. He has defended the pitch against the claims made by the Indian team regarding the practice pitch. Besides, a big hint has also been given regarding the pitch on which the Melbourne Test will be played.

MCG curator defends the pitch on Team India's claims

On the claims of the Indian team, MCG pitch curator Matt Page said while talking to the media, 'We prepare the pitch here three days in advance. If teams come and play before that, they will get the same pitches that are available with us. Three days in advance is standard procedure for us. We make our own pitches which we need for our Test matches.

Akash Deep had said – the pitches are for white ball cricket

Regarding the pitches that the Indian team got for practice, Indian fast bowler Akash Deep had said that these pitches are for white ball cricket. According to the information, these pitches were for the T-20 league Big Bash League (BBL) being played in Australia. All these pitches have been used before. Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul got injured while practicing on them.

What will be the mood of the pitch on the first day?

Page also talked about the pitch of the Boxing Day Test to be played on 26 December. He gave his opinion about what the nature of the pitch could be like on the first day. Keeping the weather in mind, Page said, 'We don't know how far we will go now. We will just monitor. With Melbourne, the weather can change very rapidly. This probably means that if it is 20C then we may see an increase in speed. Apart from this, the curator also expressed the possibility of the temperature being up to 40 degrees Celsius on the first day of the test. Due to this they may have to leave more moisture in the pitch.