A draw against India in Melbourne broke a sequence of six consecutive wins for Australia at home against India. In the first two matches, India had pushed Australia at times but struggled to deliver the knockout blow
Sydney: A draw against India in Melbourne broke a sequence of six consecutive wins for Australia at home against India. In the first two matches, India had pushed Australia at times but struggled to deliver the knockout blow.
One of the reasons India has been so competitive with the bat is because the pitches have lacked the pace and bounce the Australian pitches have been known for.
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The pitch in Sydney in the past few years has aided seam bowlers with only one instance of a team scoring more than 300 in the first innings. That happened last year but Australia were 97-5 at one stage.
Easy to bat
But according to Steve Smith the pitch will be slightly easier to bat on this time around, meaning both teams are likely to feast on it once again, at least in the first innings.
"There's a lot less grass than there was on the wicket last year which seamed around a bit and played a few tricks. It looks a good wicket at this stage so hopefully another good Test match."
Earlier in the week Mitchell Johnson spoke out on the lack of venom in the pitches for the series. "There was a lot of talk when they beat us 4-0 (in India) that they were looking forward to coming over to our fast bouncy wickets.
But it has been a little bit disappointing that they haven't been as good as a fast bowler would like. I even thought the Gabba wasn't the normal Gabba," said Johnson.
Smith preferred not to discuss the nature of the wickets, stating, "I think the wickets have been pretty good to be fair. They haven't played too many tricks".
While it has been disappointing not to see a wicket that has assisted the seamers, Australia has also ensured the flatness of the tracks has made it even tougher for the Indian bowling unit to take 20 wickets.
Perhaps with series wrapped up, it was a chance to dish out a strip that would have tested both batting line-ups.
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