Dada, Bhajji withdrew from Nagpur Test due to green top: Hayden

Updated on: 05 February,2011 06:54 AM IST |
Agencies |

Former Australian opener Matthew Hayden has re-opened the Nagpur Test controversy by claiming that ex-India captain Sourav Ganguly and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh pulled out of the series-deciding 2004 Test due to a fear of the green-top pitch there.

Matthew Hayden

In his autobiography 'Standing My Ground', Hayden writes: "The curator, a famously single-minded character with no love of the Indian hierarchy, ignored pleas to shave the deck and left a healthy covering of grass. It reminded me of Gabba (In Brisbane). To have that sort of wicket for the deciding Test of an away series - particularly in India - was the most pleasant surprise imaginable.

"When Ganguly and Harbhajan went out to see the deck a couple of days before the game, they looked like farmers inspecting crops after a hail storm. We predicted neither would play, and they did not. Ganguly withdrew with a leg-muscle injury that flared up suddenly, and Harbhajan had an even more sudden dose of food poisoning.

We put their ailments down to acute cases of 'greentrackitis', where you develop a severe intolerance to green wickets likely to give you nothing as a spin bowler and plenty of headaches as a batsman," wrote Hayden, who retired from international cricket in 2009.