The most awaited Test series between the two top cricket sides in the world has finally got underway. Both Australia and India are vying for a place in the final of the World Test Championship ’25. India has the firepower to win the series. However, they need to mentally rise to the occasion.
Unfortunately, India’s 3-0 loss to New Zealand at home has put them on the back foot. A series win, which one thought would have been a cakewalk for India, proved disastrous. India now needs to beat the Aussies convincingly on their home turf. They have done so in the last two visits, and it is those victories that they need to remember and reminisce about to regain their lost confidence.
The present Australian side is beatable. The West Indies and England sides have shown that recently, a Test win at the Gabba by the former and the Ashes win by England have made Australia look vulnerable. India, on the other have, has a clean slate to boast of, having beaten Australia in all four of their previous encounters.
I remember during the 2015 World Cup match between India and the West Indies in Perth at the WACA when the Premier of Western Australia then, Colin Barnett, told me they were moving the cricket ground a few kilometers away to build a new stadium. The venue, he said, would be ready in 2 years’ time, and the new Perth Stadium was completed as forecasted. My only question to him then was, “what happens to the hard fast bouncy wicket that the WACA was known for, especially if the new one is going to be a drop down one.”
A sly but not worried smile did come forth from him, evading my question and stressing the commercial viability of the move. Sixty thousand, he said, will be the capacity and all the 4 Test matches in the recent past held there have been sell outs. The Indian cricket side of 2018 inaugurated the new Perth venue. Virat Kohli enjoyed batting on it. The wicket had the bounce and the pace; however, Nathan Lyon’s spin did the trick in India’s defeat.
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Since then, Australia have carried on winning at this new venue. What many analysts forget to understand is that the Perth venue of yesteryear, established in the 1890s, is dead and gone. The records of players and teams are of historical value and not ones that can be compared with the present.
The drop-down wicket can be a tricky affair. Although the basic foundation could be hard and solid below, it is the layer above and how it is curated that will decide its behaviour. Both the Melbourne and the Sydney cricket venues have surprised one in the way the pitch has played in the recent past. They are drop-down wickets as well. Playing the first Test of the 5 Test match series at Perth shows the serious planning that the Australians have put into place. Victory at their favourite venue would be just the momentum and boost they need to defeat India. A goal that not only the present side but also the past players and journalists are propagating through their multimedia channels, a known tactic used by the Australians to rattle their opponents.
India have the best Test bowling unit in the world. Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj could be lethal on a fast, bouncy track. With three frontline spinners, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, and Washington Sundar, to follow, Australia will need to bat really well to notch up a big total. India’s batting on paper is excellent; however, they have not justified their potential recently, and that has been their downfall.
Apart from Kohli, Australia has zeroed in on Yashasvi Jaiswal. The young left-handed opening dynamite of a batter is a massive threat if he gets going. The short-rising ball, one gathers, will be the mode of attack to get him out; he will be tested, and one hopes the Mumbai lad comes out winning. One feels India needed to play a few warm-up matches. In the past, one played against a State side to get used to the match conditions. It was a serious first-class game in which the State players got the opportunity to showcase their talent and form. No amount of simulation can ever replace such an encounter, and India may have missed a trick there.
The Indian side definitely does not lack in skill, however, to perform at the optimum level, the batters with their stroke-play and the bowlers with their length and direction have to be on the ball from the very first ball. This is precisely where India have failed in the past, by losing early wickets or giving away valuable runs when either batting or bowling first.
The Indian team knows what is at stake. They have been rattled by New Zealand, however, they have the opportunity to rekindle themselves. The fighting knock by Rishabh Pant in 2021 to get a victory at Brisbane was what won India the series during their last visit. The Indian team needs that fighting spirit this time around as well to come through victorious.
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Yajuvindra Singh
–IANS
(The writer is a former India cricketer. The views expressed are personal.)
Caption : Perth: Australia’s captain Pat Cummins and India’s captain Jasprit Bumrah pose with the trophy at Optus Stadium ahead of the first Test match in Perth on Thursday, November 21, 2024. (Photo: IANS/@ICC)
