Wasim Jaffer takes savage dig at Australian media for unnecessary uproar over Nagpur pitch

Former India opener Wasim Jaffer on Wednesday took a savage dig at Australian media over their unnecessary uproar concerning the Nagpur pitch. Jaffer turned to his official Twitter handle to share a picture of former Australia captain Steve Smith carefully scrutinizing the wicket that is slated to be used in the first Test match starting February 9. Jaffer also shared another photo ed by NASA's Curiosity Rover showing the surface of the planet Mars. 

The picture of Smith has a caption that read, "Nagpur pitch," whereas the caption over the photo of Mars' surface read, "Nagpur pitch according to Aus media." Australian media has been constantly cribbing about the pitches that are scheduled to be used in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy this month. Every time England or Australia visit India for Tests, pitches become a major talking point for them since their players are unable to use the surface to their benefit. 

Earlier, Jaffer revealed his predicted playing XI for Team India ahead of the first Test match in Nagpur. Jaffer picked KL Rahul to open for India and pushed Shubman Gill down to the No. 5 position in the batting order. Notably, Jaffer left Suryakumar Yadav out of his playing XI despite the batsman being in tremendous form for the past several months.  

Jaffer's India XI for First Test vs Australia

1. Rohit Sharma (c)
2. KL Rahul
3. Cheteshwar Pujara
4. Virat Kohli
5. Shubman Gill
6. KS Bharat (wk)
7. Ravindra Jadeja
8. R. Ashwin
9. Kuldeep Yadav
10. Mohammed Shami
11. Mohammed Siraj

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Full squads

India's squad (first two Tests): Rohit Sharma (c), KL Rahul (vc), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat, Suryakumar Yadav.

Australia's squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

FIXTURES

1st Test, Nagpur: February 9-13 - 9:30 pm IST
2nd Test, Delhi: February 17-21 - 9:30 pm IST
3rd Test, Dharamsala: March 1-5 - 9:30 pm IST
4th Test, Ahmedabad: March 9-13 - 9:30 pm IST

Image: Twitter/WasimJaffer/cricket.com.au