Australia may be preparing a green pitch at the Optus Stadium for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar series which is set to commence on November 22. As per a report, the Optus outfield and pitch could be seen to still be quite green, which would aid fast bowlers.
The Australian pace trio of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins can prove to be dominant against the Indian batting order in such conditions. The pitch conditions may also lead to India entering the match with just 1 spinner.
As per a report by RevSportz, the Optus pitch for the first Test was still quite green and had been heavily watered as well.
In such conditions, either Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja may be rested for this match. It will also be interesting to see which pacers will feature in India’s playing XI as currently, only Jasprit Bumrah’s place is final. Team India’s other options in the department include Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana and Akash Deep.
The grass pitch could be quite challenging for the Indian batters, who will be without both skipper Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill. Rohit is expected to join the team from the second Test, while Gill recently suffered a thumb fracture during practice which ruled him out.
