India vs Australia 1st Test: Nagpur Pitch Report, Team India’s Record at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium

India vs Australia, 1st Test: The Indian men are set to face Australia on Thursday (February 9) at 930 AM (IST). It’s the first game of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy and will be played at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium (VCA Stadium) in Nagpur.

Here starts one of the most crucial assignments of the Indian men of the year 2023. India will aim to take the lead by winning the Nagpur Test. Their performance in this series will directly affect their journey toward the ICC World Test Championship Final 2023.

On the other hand, Australia, after losing two successive Border-Gavaskar Trophy editions at home, are here to give a tough fight. The visitors are going well under the leadership of Pat Cummins. They recently defeated South Africa 2-0 in the three-match Test series at home and will be aiming to continue their victorious campaign away from home too.

As India vs Australia 1st Test contest is at the edge, here’s the pitch report and more from Nagpur.

Nagpur Pitch Report

It seems like a batting pitch at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur to say. The overall conditions are better suited for pacers, especially with a fresh pitch and new ball. However, as always, spinners will dominate the game later in the game, particularly from day 3 and onwards, when the pitch will start to go downhill.

The batters might have their day out in the first innings as the pitch will offer an even amount of bounce and the conditions will favor the batters early in the game.

Based on the last five Tests played at the venue, the average first innings score has been around 434 and the average total score has been around 337. Talking about the toss, almost all of the toss winners opted to bat first. Although, only 20% of the sides have won the games while batting first.

India’s Record at Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium Nagpur

The VCA stadium is set to host its first Test match after more than five years. The last time
the stadium hosted a Test India vs Sri Lanka contest back in 2017.

Until now, the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium has hosted six Tests. And, India has featured in all of them. Hence, India vs Australia 1st Test will be the seventh Test to be played at the VCA Stadium.

Team India’s record at the venue is described in the table below.

Australian media targets Indian pitches, again!

Besides, the Australian media has yet again set its eye on the Indian pitches. The several social media handles have shared the photos of the Nagpur pitch, declaring it ‘bizarre’ even before the game begins.

What's going on here? ???

Pictures expose bizarre Indian ploy as Aussie concerns grow over first Test pitch ? https://t.co/O6XuSbyG7V pic.twitter.com/OHEGP4VWRB

— Fox Cricket (@FoxCricket) February 7, 2023

“Straight-up pitch doctoring.”

“The ICC should step in and do something about it.”

Craddock, O’Donnell and Gillespie respond to Nagpur pitch reports | https://t.co/v9R01P7piQ | #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/OLhoFxcq1l

— SEN 1116 (@1116sen) February 8, 2023

Also, the Aussie players, Steve Smith here, criticised the Indian pitches as soon as he took a look at it. Smith, one of the modern day greats of the Test cricket, called the pitch ‘a dry surface’ and stated that there’re many small jigsaw pieces, which are loose and will break up later, damaging the pitch.

? About that Nagpur pitch … here’s how @stevesmith49 saw it. ?️

? “It’s quite a dry surface. There’s quite a lot of small jigsaw pieces kind of thing that are quite loose that’ll break up," Smith said. ??#AUSvIND #INDvAUS pic.twitter.com/gVabrmym6A

— ABC SPORT (@abcsport) February 8, 2023

The Australian team sensed something was wrong with the Nagpur pitch – but it was when they left the stadium that the real dirty work began. ? #INDvsAUS | #Cricket https://t.co/BOzpQ7RCiK

— CODE Cricket (@codecricketau) February 7, 2023

Nonetheless, the Indian cricketing fraternity has came forward to defend the Nagpur pitch anyway. Here’re a few responses from twitter, regarding the matter.

Scheme:

Create noise about the pitch and conditions before the series starts.

Win Win situation.

If Win: We won despite the pitch.

If Lose: We lost because of the pitch.

The world & a bunch of Indian 'SENA' mongers will support.

.

The coffee has been smelt though. https://t.co/2nhX44xY2x

— North Stand Gang – Wankhede (@NorthStandGang) February 8, 2023

pic.twitter.com/4HfAUEaWRL

— Ankit Jain (@indiantweeter) February 8, 2023

Spin-friendly tracks are as good or bad as grasslands of wickets you prepare for visiting teams. Don't be a crybaby. Learn to play quality spin, green-track bullies!

— Tarun Sharmaa (@tarunkabier) February 8, 2023

Cry more aussies. We never complain when we visit Australia and you make green tops. If your players only performs on green tops and not on spinning pitches then they can be called home track bullies ?

— Pritesh Indore Patil (@PriteshSpeaks) February 7, 2023