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How India hatched a plan to upset Australia's spin practice ahead of 1st Test

This will surely frustrate Australian captain Steve Smith and coach Darren Lehmann no end.

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David Warner and Matt Renshaw involved in a mid pitch discussion on Friday
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Australia's 2017 sojourn of the sub-continent kicked off on Friday with a three-day practice match against India A at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai.

The visitors made a statement of intent on Day 1 of the contest by being comfortably placed at 327 for five at the end of 90 overs. Captain Steve Smith and southpaw Shaun Marsh did the star turns for the Aussies as they retired after scoring fluent centuries against the Hardik Pandya-led side.


David Warner and Matt Renshaw complete a quick single while the colour of the wicket gives a fair idea about the nature of the surface (Source: AFP)

However, the talking point of the day has to be the absolute green top offered to the Australians as they prepare for the upcoming Test series against Virat Kohli's Team India. It was widely reported that the Australians conducted an intense training camp in Dubai prior to making their journey to Mumbai. Emphasis was given to honing their batters' skill against spinners. The videos that surfaced from the training camp showed clearly how the Aussies were practicing on wickets with large rough patches to get acclimatised to Indian conditions. After the hammering they received in the last Test series they played in India in 2013, the Australians wanted to make sure they left no stone unturned this time around.



David Warner plays a careful shot on the Brabourne wicket which has a greenish cover (Source: AFP)

The Aussies will be mindful of the fact that the Indians are in the middle of a stellar home Test season. The No.1 ranked side in the world has hardly broken a sweat as they've absolutely dominated New Zealand, England and Bangladesh. Much of the credit for this success goes to the red-hot form of tweakers Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, and the Australians would've surely wanted to get some match-practice against spinners on an Indian wicket before they dived into the Test series.

As a result of the seamer-friendly track at the Brabourne Stadium, Shahbaz Nadeem was the only full-time spinner who got a real go. And to add 'insult to injury', the only other spinner in the XI, Karnataka's Krishnappa Gowtham, limped off the field with a hamstring pull after lunch without having bowled a single over. The rest of the overs were bowled by either pacers or part-timers. 

 

Now, whether this green top was part of a strategy by the Indian team management, or was it a mere coincidence, will remain unknown. But one thing is for sure, it will frustrate Smith and coach Darren Lehmann no end.

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