India blame net pitches for injuries

A “net-gate” controversy is brewing in Brisbane, with India sensationally blaming the quality of the Gabba’s practice wickets for injuries to their star batsmen during the the second Test against Australia.

Indian officials were fuming on Saturday after Shikhar Dhawan (wrist) and Virat Kohli (forearm) were struck batting in the outside nets on “worn out” wickets before the fourth day’s play.

Dhawan’s right wrist was badly injured, ensuring he did not resume his knock of 26 when play started on Saturday.

An Indian official said they had “no time for x-rays” but Dhawan later took the crease with his wrist strapped as wickets tumbled on a horror day for the visitors.

Kohli was able to bat nursing a sore left arm but didn’t last long, chopping a Mitchell Johnson ball onto his stumps on one as India at one stage lost 4-11 in their second innings to be in deep trouble.

“The Indian team has been asking for the fresh net practice wickets several times for the last two days which have not been provided,” an Indian official said.

“Instead of that, they have (been) asked to practise on worn out wickets which have uneven bounce.

“Because of that, two of our batsmen got injured today.”

Former Australian paceman Andy Bichel said it was silly for the Indian batsmen to warm up against bowlers and not use throw down exercises on Saturday if they were so concerned about the practice wickets.

“You got to be a little bit smart … if it’s cracked all up, you don’t go charging in … you might have some throwdowns instead,” he told ABC radio.

“Maybe a little bit silly in their preparation but they’ve got to blame someone, I suppose.”

Recovering Australian paceman Ryan Harris took a thinly veiled swipe at the visitors after he emerged unscathed on Saturday from a practice net session.

“I’ve got no bruises on me. I use my bat,” he told ABC radio.

Queensland Cricket later tweeted: “Australians say no problems with them (practice wickets) and curator says they mirror exact state of the test pitch in middle”.

Stay up to date with the latest sports news
Follow our social accounts to get exclusive content and all the latest sporting news!