India shorten practice match over condition of pitch, outfield

India's four-day practice match against county side Essex was reduced to three days amid high drama over the condition of the pitch and the outfield, both of which apparently left the visitors unhappy and threw their preparations for the Test series against England haywire.

However, an Essex county representative maintained that the Indian team "were happy with practice facilities", attributing the curtailment on the hot prevalent conditions owing to the current heat wave in the United Kingdom.

When asked about the rugged outfield, and whether that could have been a reason to reduce the game, the representative declined to comment any further.

"Essex Cricket and the England & Wales Cricket Board have today agreed, at the request of the BCCI Management Team, that the scheduled Tourist match between Essex and India will now be played over three days," the county said in a statement.

The Indian team management took this decision during this afternoon's net practice after having a look at the pitch. Indian coach Ravi Shastri was seen having an animated discussion with the local officials after getting a glimpse of the grassy pitch and a barren outfield that can cause injury while fielding.

The rest of the Indian support staff, including assistant coach Sanjay Bangar and bowling coach Bharat Arun also took stock of the conditions and were seen having discussions with the ground staff.

Given that it is not a classified first-class match, it is confirmed that the Indian team will be using all 18 members of their Test squad.

A senior member of the ground staff spoke with PTI at the end of it all on condition of anonymity and said that "all requests of the Indian team management have been accepted".

When pressed if that included "shaving off the grass", he simply said, "We have bent over backwards to accommodate the Indian team management's demands. It is disappointing though because we had sold a lot of tickets for the fourth day (Saturday)."