IND vs AUS: First view of Delhi pitch surfaces ahead of 2nd Test

The Australian side will not be much focused on the pitch this time around, given how the first game panned out for them. The visitors put in all their efforts to make the most out of the Nagpur pitch in the first Test, but India eventually won the game, thanks to the spin-duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. 

The most significant area of ground for the upcoming days will be the 22-yard strip at the centre of the Arun Jaitley Stadium, which was being guarded on Wednesday with equivalent fervour by the venue's curators. 

Pictures of the Delhi pitch have surfaced on social media ahead of the second Test, here's a look:

Meanwhile, the Australian media is again at scrutizing the pitch for the Delhi Test. However, this time curators want to do their work without any outside interference.

Venue Curators attempt to ban Australian media from taking pictures of Delhi pitch

India is set to take on Australia in the second Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. The second Test will begin on Friday, February 17 at the Arun Jaitley Cricket Stadium in Delhi. This is the first time Delhi is hosting a Test match since December 2017. The first Test was held at the Vidarbha Cricket Stadium in Nagpur, which India won by an innings and 132 runs. 

With the second Test to begin in two days, the pitch of the Arun Jaitley Stadium is already in controversy as the venue curators attempted to ban a reporter of Australian media. The ground staff of the stadium didn’t allow the media person to take footage of the strip. 

The issue became more sensitive after the controversy during the series-opener, where the curators did the same in Nagpur. According to some trusted sources, the ground staff had mistakenly accused the reporter while he was trying to take the pictures. Initially, the journalist was only allowed to be at least 30 meters away to click pictures. However, the photographer then asked to move again to the boundary, where he was informed by the staff that he could not do that. 

Anyhow the stadium is not expected to be as treacherous to batters as it appears. The Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc believes that the stadium will play low and slow. He also said that after the training sessions in the last couple of days they felt like the stadium is prepared similar as well.  “It looks pretty dry.

The visitors are likely to come up with new tactics on Friday after a humiliating loss in the series opener. Australia was bundled out in both of their innings, where they scored very low (177 and 91). Meanwhile, India players produced a stunning display in both bowling and batting.

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