India great Sunil Gavaskar called out double standards over the SCG pitch ahead of day three of the final Test, while Michael Vaughan said the Border-Gavaskar Series is set to be decied by Jasprit Bumrah’s involvement.
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Fifteen wickets fell on a wild second day with the seam-friendly deck wreaking havoc on batters.
An explosive Rishabh Pant slammed the second-fastest Indian Test half-century Saturday to drive the visitors to a 145-run lead with four wickets left after an intense day two of the decisive fifth Test against Australia.
At the close in Sydney, India were 141-6 with Ravindra Jadeja on eight and Washington Sundar six after they dismissed Australia for 181 in reply to their first-innings 185.
Speaking after day two’s play ended, Gavaskar said that if 15 wickets had been taken in India “all hell would have broken loose”.
“We had Glenn McGrath saying he’d never seen so much grass. Did you hear any former India cricketer moan about the pitch?” Gavaskar told ABC Grandstand Radio.
“When we go out and play cricket we will toughen it out. And if we are beaten, we are beaten. Overseas it’s very difficult to beat home teams.
“I did say that when we saw the pitch yesterday, the cows could have gone and grazed on it.
“This is not the ideal Test match pitch that you want because you want it to go into a fourth and fifth day. Unless there is rain I don’t see us being here on day four.”
Brett Lee revealed during his pitch report for day three that, when bowling from the Paddington End, there are “divots” in the wicket on a six-metre length that are causing havoc.
“There’s undulation here, a few divots,” Lee pointed out. “It may have been why Scott Boland changed ends (yesterday).”
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The other biggest talking point of the day was Indian superstar Bumrah leaving the SCG in his training kit due to back spasms.
It’s unclear whether he will be available to bowl to defend India’s total, and the trophy.
Vaughan said on Fox Cricket that the outcome of the entire series could be decided by what happens next with Bumrah.
“We’ve all seen enough cricket that when a player goes in a vehicle to go and get scans it’s not just a back spasm, it has to be something a little bit worse than that,” he said.
“I’d go as far as to say if he’s done bowling in the second innings, Australia will win the game.
“If Bumrah is bowling at the pitch we’ve seen at the SCG I think India are in a really good position… if they can get to 200 and Bumrah can be bowling, I think it’ll be a tough chase for Australia.
“But if Bumrah is not able to bowl in that second innings, I think Australia will be able to chase it down.”
Meanwhile, Australian all-rounder Beau Webster, who top-scored with 57 and has now taken a wicket in his debut Test, said it has been a “hell” of an introduction to the format.
“It’s been in fast-forward mode,” added Webster.
“With the amount of wickets, I am just happy that I could contribute with the bat, few catches and wicket there as well, so really happy.
“It’s a real tussle. We don’t know what a good score is yet and obviously plenty on offer for the quicks.”
Prasidh Krishna said India didn’t have a particular target in mind on Sunday.
“As many runs as possible would be great for us because we don’t know what the wicket will be behaving like for us,” said Prasidh.
“There’s no particular number in mind, but as many as we can score. We are ready to bowl them out for whatever.”
Australia lead the series 2-1 with India needing to win at the Sydney Cricket Ground to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
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