The Perth pitch is expected to be spicy. Early swing, movement off the deck, and, as usual, bounce will be there at the Optus Stadium. So what should India do if they win the toss? The answer is easy: bat first. You’d ask why you choose to put Yashasvi Jaiswal and whoever else Gautam Gambhir and Jasprit Bumrah, decide to play in so early.
How’ll the pitch play?
Well, the reasoning isn’t what will happen in the first session of the India vs Australia 1st Test but the remaining fourteen sessions. The first real look of the pitch is out, and you can see patches of green. As stated before, it’ll be spicy, especially on the first day, but after the day it’ll ease out for a while before the wear and tear eventually causes it to break.
Why India shouldn’t bowl first if Bumrah wins the toss
It’ll be the moment that batting will be the toughest. If Team India decides to bowl first, that means they’ll have to bat last (chase) when the pitch is most difficult to play on. Bowling first could see them pick a couple of wickets before Lunch but in the grand scheme of things, it might be a poor decision to make.
You can’t forget that the Indian batting isn’t that strong. Captain Rohit Sharma is unavailable. Shubman Gill isn’t expected to play even though Morne Morkel, India’s assistant coach, didn’t rule him out. It isn’t certain who’ll replace him or Rohit. Virat Kohli’s out of form. We aren’t sure who of KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, and Dhruv Jurel will be slotted at number five. Amid all of this, you can’t expect India to recreate the Gabba magic they did last time.
India’s squad for 1st Australia Test
Jasprit Bumrah (c), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal
