Known as the cricketing world’s fastest pitch, the WACA Stadium is one of the most important Test venues in the sport. The surfaces here had the right balance of pace and bounce, with stroke-makers and hit the deck bowlers getting maximum purchase out of it. This venue began hosting Test matches since 1970 and when the final Test match here took place in 2017, it had hosted about 44 games. Since then, Perth Stadium (Optus) is now being used as a Test venue in the city of Perth.
It was in the year 1977 where Australia hosted India for the first time at Perth in a Test match, with the visiting India team losing a hard fought Test match by 2 wickets. We will check in detail on India’s records at both Perth venues’ in detail here.
India’s Test Record at Perth
| Span | 1977-Present |
| Matches | 5 |
| Won | 1 |
| Lost | 4 |
| Tied | 0 |
| Drawn | 0 |
| Win % | 20.00 |
| Highest Team Score | 402 |
| Lowest Team Score | 141 |
You can also find similar stats for India in other Australian venues here.
Key Stats:
4 – Of the 5 Tests at Perth, India and Australia have faced off each other at the WACA four times and the other Test was played at the Optus Perth Stadium in 2018.
1 – India’s only Test thus at Perth Stadium was also the ground’s maiden Test at the venue and since then it has played hosts to 3 more Tests.
2008 – The year India became the only Test team from Asia to win a Test match at the WACA and it was their third match at the venue, having lost the other two. India won the game by 72 runs thanks to all-round efforts by Irfan Pathan who picked 5 wickets in the match to go with his 74 runs across two innings. Aside from that batting stalwarts like VVS Laxman, Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid scored fifty-plus each while RP Singh chipped in with six wickets in the Test match.
300 – India’s biggest Test loss at the WACA and it came in the 1992/93 series where centuries from David Boon (107), Dean Jones (150), Tom Moody (101) and a match haul of 11/95 from Michael Whitney eclipsed Sachin Tendulkar’s brilliant 114 in the first innings.
Innings and 37 runs – India couldn’t match David Warner’s stunning 180 in the 2014/15 series as they failed to overhaul his individual score in either of the innings (161 & 171), and thus succumbing to innings defeat.
226 – Runs scored by Sachin in the 3 Tests he played at the WACA, the most by an Indian batter at that venue. He is followed by Mohinder Amarnath who made 190 (100 & 90) in the only Test he played here. Sachin is also the highest run-getter in the BGT tournament history.
3 – Number of Indian batters to score a Test century at WACA. Sunil Gavaskar is the other player and his 127 in 1977 series is the highest individual score by an Indian.
10 – Wickets taken by former India skipper Bishen Singh Bedi at WACA and this is the most by an Indian here. He had two five-wicket hauls (5/89 & 5/104) in the only Test he played here in 1977.
3 – While Bedi is the only Indian bowler with a 10-fer at the WACA, Umesh Yadav (5/93 in 2014) and Manoj Prabhakar (5/101) are the others to have taken a five-wicket haul here.
146 – India’s only game at new Optus Stadium saw them lose by 146 runs and this was largely thanks to Nathan Lyon’s 8-wicket haul in the Test which includes a fifer (5/67) in the first innings. While Virat Kohli (123) is the only batter from India to score a century here, Mohammad Shami has a five-wicket haul (6/56 in the second innings) and next best being Ishant Sharma’s (4/41) in the first essay.
