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Ravi Shastri stated that the Indian team will never make excuses about pitch and playing conditions. There is always great fun and joy playing in tough conditions and as professionals one must be ready to play under any situation, he said.
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It was reported earlier that Indian players and management were not happy about the playing conditions and outfield at the Essex county ground, which resulted in reduction of a four day game to just a three day encounter majorly due to the heat wave in England in recent days.
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But Ravi Shastri thrashed all such allegations on the Indian troops saying that they did not have any problems with the pitch conditions. Even when asked by the ground staff if they would cut the grass on the wicket, the former Indian international said that there was no need for that.
“It was decided yesterday during practice. We had a chat with Essex authorities and once they explained how they had sold tickets and everything. We were quite happy to play even a two-day game and use that one extra day for practice here. But they said tickets and all that, so we said okay, ‘we will play a three-day game’.”, said head coach Shastri.
He feels that an extra day at the venue of the first Test would be more fruitful then spending one extra day at Essex. He has a valid point as match practice is highly importan, but getting used to the conditions at Birmingham is more important than anything else.
“We travel on Saturday, to be able to practice on Sunday. The reason is to get to the Test match venue because it wouldn’t have served any purpose with an extra day here. An extra day there will give us more familiarity with the venue and the conditions where you are playing the first Test,” he added.
The five match series begins on August 1, at Birmingham.
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