On Friday, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting got a taste of the DDCA’s famous mismanagement. The Australian team reached Kotla in the morning for a scheduled net session but were infuriated to see that the practice pitches were damp and not properly rolled. DDCA curator Vijay Bahadur put it down to miscommunication, pleading ignorance, though the Australian practice had been scheduled much in advance.

Forced to have a light session on their only training day in Delhi, Ponting let his disappointment be known. “It seems everybody in the world other than the groundsman knew that we were training at 9 a.m.,” he said. “To turn up here and find the wickets completely unusable is disappointing.”

The Indian team, too, didn’t have a good time at the nets in the afternoon. Virender Sehwag jumped out quickly while Yuvraj, Gambhir and Suresh Raina struggled on a damp wicket where the ball was seaming. Quite a contrast to the match wicket, where it’ll be a different struggle altogether.

‘Home’ again

Even as the Australian team was busy searching for the right playing XI for the third ODI, there was a different kind of huddle as the match referee and umpires discussed their own team composition.

For most of the morning, there was confusion over Sri Lanka’s Elite panel umpire Asoka de Silva taking charge at one end after Mark Benson flew back due to ill-health.

And for the third straight time in the series, Indians Ameesh Saheba and Shahvir Tarapore will stand as on-field umpires with Sanjay Hazare in the box. With no complaints from Ponting about the performance of the ‘home’ umpires, it could even be time for the ICC to take into account their good work, and end the long wait for an Indian to be re-inducted to the Elite panel.

... contd.