Australia vs India: Perth curator comes up with green cover

Trailing 0-1 in the four-Test series, Australia are all set to come back hard at India in the second Test starting at the new Perth Stadium in the Western Australia capital on Friday and the comeback might be a too hard one, as unveiled by the curators of the wicket for the second game. Head curator of WACA (Western Australia Cricket Association) Brett Sipthorpe brought to the notice a green wicket on the eve of the game and that would not make too many of Indian supporters look assured.

The second Test of the series will be the first ever to be played at the new stadium where neither Australia nor India have the experience of appearing in a Test match. And given the fact that both teams have strong pace bowling attack, the match could be evenly poised for an outcome, resulting in either 1-1 or 2-0 in favor of India.

The old stadium in Perth – WACA Ground – which used to host international cricket matches till recently and where India had beaten Australia in the 2007-08 series, was once notorious for its fast wickets. In fact, it was known to be the fastest wicket in the world.

India’s concern will remain with their batters who have traditionally struggled on bouncy Australian wickets. Though visiting captain Virat Kohli came up with a brave gesture saying the grassy cover of the upcoming Test wicket was okay, his words would have to be valued by the Indian batting line-up on the ground.

The two Indian openers – KL Rahul and Murali Vijay – will have the game of their careers for another couple of failures here could shut the doors for them as Prithvi Shaw is on way to recovery fast.

Perth curator told to prepare fast and bouncy wicket

“We’ve just been told make it fast, make it bouncy if you can and run with it,” Sipthorpe was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au on Thursday. “We’re just trying to produce the bounciest pitch we can.”

The wicket for the upcoming game is set to mirror the one which was used in the game between Western Warriors and NSW Blues in the JLT Sheffield Shield in November. In that game, 32 of 40 wickets fell to the quick bowlers with Warriors’ Jhye Richardson taking 11. However, Blues’ Kurtis Patterson, who was picked as the man of the match, slammed an unbeaten century on the first day to show that the batsman could also have his say if he applies it properly.

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