“Of course you can collapse as a batting unit at times, but the thing is that we do prefer to play on turning tracks because I think that is our strength, that is where we are really good as a team.

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“How much that wicket turned, to be fair, the earlier two wickets I don’t think they were bad wickets by any standard, they were wickets which turned, which we prefer. Today it was drier than we expected and we saw that it did more. First day of a Test match it did a lot more than we expected.”

Asked whether the ICC should furnish host nations with neutral curators for the next World Test Championship, given a recent proliferation of result pitches as teams chase the points they need to qualify for the final, Rathour said pressure had increased.

“Since this ICC Test Championship has started there’s just more pressure on you to win home games,” he said. “We want to win games when we’re playing at home, but that’s a call the ICC need to take.”

Rathour pointed out that the BCCI’s late decision to switch the Test from Dharamshala to Indore did not provide ground staff with much in the way of time to prepare the pitch exactly as required.

For Kuhnemann, it was a chance to walk in the footsteps of his heroes Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, after years of careful preparation.

“We’ve had a subcontinent wicket back home in Brisbane, been bowling that for like six years so been learning the craft and about how to bowl over here,” he said. “I’m a massive fan of Jadeja and Ashwin so watch how they have bowled in the last few years.

“It’s more so the mental side, dealing with the crowd and how quick things happen. Me and Todd [Murphy] were on the MRF tour in Chennai probably six months ago and that left me in good stead to go well in these games.”

Kuhnemann revealed he had tried to tap into Jadeja’s rich well of knowledge and was told he would get plenty of help – at the end of the series.

“I said, have you got any tips for me after the last Test? He said ‘yes, at the end of the series’,” Kuhnemann said. “The way he uses his crease and probably the biggest thing I picked up in Delhi is that he brings his length back a little bit when the ball gets older.

“That’s probably the main thing I took out of the second Test and brought into this Test, probably my length. Don’t want to get full, especially on a wicket that stays low, being consistent on that 5-6 metre length.”

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