Prior to the important second Test of the four-match Test series against the visitors India at Optus Stadium (Perth), the Australian captain Tim Paine feels good to lose the toss.
The hosts Australia will begin the second Test from Friday (December 14) with the 0-1 behind as they lost the first Test at Adelaide by 31 runs. It is going to be a very crucial game for them to define the series. While the Optus stadium is going to make its Test debut on Friday and the curator has confirmed to create a bouncy track, Australian Test skipper Paine feels that it will be not bad for him to lose the toss.
Talking about the pitch, Paine told reporters on Thursday, “Yeah it will be I reckon [good toss to lose]. Actually, I spoke to the curator about it this morning. I really don’t think the pitch will play that badly. For the ODI and T20 here, both those wickets looked really green for white-ball cricket but it played really well. With the heat it will probably break up and you will see cracks in the game. It is what it is and whatever you are doing tomorrow morning you need to start really well.”
After a close defeat in the Adelaide Test, Australian opening batsman Aaron Finch and the left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc have been criticised for the very average performances. While Finch hugely disappointed with the bat in both innings (0 & 11), Starc had the average performances with the ball in hand (2/63 & 3/40).
Backing both of them, Paine hopes their returning to the forms in the Perth Test, starting from this Friday.
Paine said on this, “We encourage all our players to back their strengths. Finch has been successful doing that in international cricket. He might not have played well in UAE but he is just one score away like anyone else to get more self-belief at the Test level that he already has at T20 or ODI level. Finch is no different than any other player and you are not going to succeed unless you back your strengths.”
Later, Paine spoke about Starc, “There was no doubt about Mitchell Starc not playing. Criticism has been pretty unfair. After Adelaide, barring 2-3 overs where his radar went wrong, he bowled pretty well. He is getting close to his best again and swung the ball in Adelaide, which he didn’t do in UAE. He will do it in Perth with conditions out there and one thing I know about him when he cops a bit of criticism he takes it a bit personally. So he will go out there pumped and we know what he can produce. We have no doubt that he is the best and we are proud to have him in our team.”
Also read: Australia Decides To Go With Unchanged Playing XI For Perth Test
The motivated Indian cricket team is currently leading the Test series by 1-0 and looking for the inaccessible 2-0 lead in the series by winning the Perth Test.
Talking about the Indian side, Paine said, “They have new guys coming in. We have spoken about it, but we have concentrated over their whole squad over the last few weeks so we know their strengths and weaknesses. Again it is about putting it together on the field, and whatever eleven they put on the park, they will come hard, they are prepared well and they have a sniff of something special [2-0]. So we will have to be right on our game from ball one.”
Also read: Ashwin and Rohit To Miss Perth Test Due To Injuries
During the Adelaide Test, the Australian side was able to keep quiet the no.1 ranked Test batsman Virat Kohli who scored 3 and 34 runs respectively. Admitting Kohli is the best player in the present time, Paine added that they are trying to create more difficulties for Kohli to score each run.
Paine said, “Whether he gets runs or he doesn’t get runs, we were happy with how we bowled to him in Adelaide. Obviously in the first innings, he didn’t get in and Usman Khawaja took a great catch. In the second innings, we were really pleased that we made him face over a hundred balls to score 30 runs and I don’t think he does that a hell of a lot.
Also read: Virat Kohli Feels Excited To Face The Bouncy Perth Track
“And even of those 30-odd runs, I think 6-7 came when we threw the ball to Travis Head for a few overs. So we made him face a 105-110 balls for 20-odd, and that’s something that we want to continue to do. We know that at some stage, he is going to score runs. He is the best player in the world. We respect that but we want to make him work really hard for every run.”
