Nagpur pitch "tricked" us: Handscomb

Australia batter Peter Handscomb on Thursday admitted that the Nagpur track tricked the visiting side as it did a lot less than what they had feared in the opening Test of the four-match series.

Ravindra Jadeja (5/47) and Ravichandran Ashwin (3/42) shared eight wickets between them as Australia were bowled out for 177 in their first innings. Many Australian batters were out playing poor shots. Some of them played for the turn when there was none.

India reached 77 for 1 at stumps on the opening day.

It definitely wasnt easy out there. Its tough because when the pitch is playing tricks that starts to play with your mind a little bit as well,” Handscomb said at the press conference after the opening days play.

The ball that doesnt do as much you expect to do a little bit more and thats where you can come undone with the ball that goes straight on, rather than the big turners we saw out there as well. Handscomb, who scored 31 in the Australian innings, said the Indian team bowled really well as a unit and didnt give away easy runs. Its tough out there, Jadeja was obviously bowling very well, not really giving our batsmen a lot to hit and I found him tough to score (against), the 31-year-old right- handed batter said.

For Handscomb, it was a comeback to the Test team after four years and he said he was feeling nice to play again in the longest format.

“Ive worked really hard on a lot of things on my game, mentally, tactically and on my technique as well. “To work that hard and get the rewards to come back in, its a really, really nice feeling. Im just grateful to be out there and give it a crack at time.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)