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In an effort to win the two-match Test series against India, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board has taken a truly surprising action. The Indian team is scheduled to play a practice match in Colombo before the Test match against Sri Lanka in Galle. This practice match is scheduled for August 7th, and the Indian players and management are unhappy with the pitch prepared by the Sri Lankan Cricket Board for this match. Reports indicate that the pitch at Colombo’s Nondescripts Cricket Club has been left with excessive grass, leaving the Indian players disappointed.

Why are Indian players angry with the grassy pitch?

Now the question is, why are the Indian players disappointed with the grass on the pitch? Actually, Sri Lanka has spin-friendly pitches. The Galle Test is also expected to feature a spin-friendly track, and Team India wanted to play on such a track in the practice match, but the opposite happened in Colombo. The Colombo pitch has been made spin-friendly, which angered the Indian team. When the Indian team discussed this issue with the pitch curator, he said that he had been instructed to do so by the Sri Lankan Board.

Why a green pitch in a 3-day match?

Nondescripts Cricket Club official A. Frank said, “The Indian team said there was a lot of grass on the wicket, but we kept it that way because it’s a three-day match. We couldn’t have given a wicket without grass. The wicket we provided is good, so I can’t say whether it will be beneficial for either team. It depends on their style of play.” Frank further revealed that SLC had requested to leave the grass on the pitch as it was. The pitch curator claimed that the pitch starts turning on the second and third days, so batting first would be better.

Sri Lankan team for practice match

Nishan Madushka, Ravindu Rasanta, Pasindu Sooriyabandara, Pawana Ratnayake, Ahan Wickramasinghe, Sonal Dinusha, Anjala Bandara, Nipun Dhananjaya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Asanka Manoj, Isitha Wijesundara, Ramesh Mendis, Kesara Nuwantha and Dilum Sudira.

Indian Test squad for Sri Lanka tour

Shubman Gill (captain), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sai Sudarshan, Dhruv Jurel (wicketkeeper), Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Manav Suthar, Aaqib Nabi, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnur Brar, Devdutt Padikkal, Saransh Jain.