The pitches and overall conditions are always a major challenge for visiting teams in Australia. Although India prevailed over the hosts during their last couple of Test series Down Under, the nature of the surfaces in Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney will certainly occupy a place in their mind.
Australia Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins didn’t divulge much about the possible nature of the pitches for the five-Test series beginning next month against India. According to the senior pacer, teams need to be “well rounded” to succeed in Australian conditions.
“You never quite know as there are five different venues in Australia. Over the last couple of years, we have had some quite bowler-friendly wickets where games got over in two-three days, while in a place like the SCG, it tends to be quite flat. So you never quite know.
“Even at the Gabba in the last series (against India in 2020-21), there were cracks on the wicket. Still, the pitch played beautifully on Day 5. I think in Australia, you need to be quite well rounded as the pitches tend to do a bit throughout the five days,” Cummins said at a media interaction organised by Star Sports on Tuesday.
“A big fan” of Jasprit Bumrah, Cummins acknowledged that Australia will brighten their prospects of a series victory if they can keep the Indian pace spearhead quiet. “I’m a big fan of Bumrah, who’s a fantastic bowler. Hopefully, if we can keep him quiet, that will go a long way to winning the series,” Cummins said. “Alongside him, he has got some other guys who haven’t played a lot over here in Australia. We haven’t seen a lot of them either. So, we’ll see how it goes.”
It will also be interesting to see how Yashasvi Jaiswal responds when Australian bowlers put him to the test. Cummins, though, claimed the Australians haven’t seen much of the left-handed opener.
“Haven’t seen a lot of Jaiswal... I’ve seen him a little bit in the IPL. He’s a good player with runs in different formats. We’re waiting to have a good look at him but have not yet started planning too closely either,” Cummins said.
The absence of India’s former No.3 batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara, will give a “different feel” to the series, Cummins believes. “Pujara was one of those guys who never really felt like he was getting away from you. But then, he would just bat, bat and bat.
“This series is going to have a bit of a different feel without him. But I’m sure they’ll pick someone else with a similar kind of style,” the Australia skipper said.
