India's new head coach Rahul Dravid wasn't expecting the pitch at the Green Park to hold down for five days as he gave stadium's ground staff, led by Shiv Kumar, INR 35,000 for their efforts after the first Test against New Zealand.
Pitch in the first Test had something for all as batters who applied caution got runs, such as Shreyas Iyer, Tom Latham, Shubman Gill, and Will Young, while pacers Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson poked India's top-order and hosts' spinners got 17 wickets.
"He said we weren't expecting this type of pitch over the course of 5 days in the Green Park Stadium," Shiv Kumar told ANI.
"He gave INR 35,000 to the ground team," the pitch curator added.
Coming back to the match, Team India managed to take eight wickets on Day 5 of the first Test but some late drama and stout-hearted performance from batters of visiting team prevented the hosts from gaining victory.
Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel came up with a determined performance to hold off the Indian spinners in the final hour of the Test to earn a commendable draw as the hosts ended the Test one wicket away from victory.
( With inputs from ANI )
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