Sydney: At the pre-match press conference, Australian captain Steve Smith thought the pitch for the fourth Test was dry but was a nice track for batting. Half and hour before the toss, Michael Clarke in his pitch report took the analysis one step further by stating that not only was it dry, but it will also aid spin quite early.


Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowls on Day 1 of the Sydney Test yesterday 

India would have surely known at first sight of the pitch that it demanded more consistency from the bowlers that any other pitch in the series. India would also have figured out that with a workload of 125 overs in the past three weeks and no bowling in the nets leading up to Test, India's most consistent bowler Ishant Sharma was unlikely to play.