The Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024/25 is around the corner as Australia and India will square off for the first Test match in Perth. Perth has always been a ground where fast bowlers have extracted pace, bounce and movement off the wicket.
It’s not been different in the new Optus Stadium as well. Western Australia Cricket head curator Isaac McDonald has now said that the wicket for the first Test match will have pace, bounce, movement and carry for the fast bowlers.
He said that they will be preparing a wicket that will suit the fast bowlers and the game will be all about that. Perth pitch was in the headlines for not aiding the bowlers during the series against West Indies. However, it offered everything for the pacers in the game against Pakistan last year and the Head Pitch curator wants to replicate that this time around as well.
“This is Australia, this is Perth… I’m setting ourselves up for really good pace, really good bounce and really good carry. In a perfect world, I want to emulate last year,” Isaac McDonald told ESPNcricinfo.
How will the Perth pitch be for the first Test between Australia and India?
The first Test between IND and AUS will be played at Perth stadium (Image Credits: X)
McDonald talked about how 10mm grass was left on the wicket against Pakistan and how it held the surface nicely for the first few days. Both the fast bowling units in the match between Australia and Pakistan were rapid and extracted every bit of help from the surface. The curator feels that it will be the same this time around against India. However, he stated that good batters can use the pace and score runs quickly as well.
“Ten millimetres of grass was left on the pitch on that occasion. It’s [10 mm] a good starting point. Ten millimetres was pretty comfortable with the conditions that we had [last year] and that held the conditions together nicely for the first few days. Live grass on the pitch is speed. Both bowling units were pretty rapid last year and hoping for much the same this year. But, as we saw last year, good batters were able to take the game on and put away balls and score runs quickly,” McDonald added.
Team India have won the Test series in the last two tours of Australia. However, they will be without the services of their captain, Rohit Sharma, in the first Test. Jasprit Bumrah is set to replace him as the captain.
