Home
Australia's captain Pat Cummins has teasingly suggested the kind of pitches he would want to see when India visits them for the forthcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy. When asked what he hopes to see in the surfaces ready for the series, Cummins offered a humorous remark in an interview with The Grade Cricketer. He remarked, "I wish, if I had my way, the pitches would be looking like those bushes behind you (laughs)," pointing to the overgrown flora behind the interviewer.
Although his joke made people chuckle, Cummins acknowledged that curators are ultimately in charge of pitch preparation. He also considered how Australian pitches have changed over time, pointing out that, in contrast to the flatter surfaces of his early career, more recent seasons have seen balanced tracks where batters must dig in for centuries.
"Unfortunately, I don't have any say, so we will wait and see. Last couple of seasons, the wickets have been awesome. It feels like if someone has scored a hundred, they have batted the house down," Cummins said
One of their most anticipated Test assignments will be India's tour of Australia, which is scheduled to start in November. After historic wins in 2018–19 and 2020–21, the Rohit Sharma-led team will be looking to win a series in Australia for the third time in a row. This series looks to be even more difficult for India now that there will be a fifth Test.
Cummins made it clear that he hopes the bat-ball contest is fair. The lanky pacer also recalled Australia's 1-2 series loss during their 2023 Test tour of India. Cummins reflected on the difficult conditions, pointing out that matches can be fiercely contested on spin-friendly tracks in particular.
"I just hope there is a bit of balance between bat and ball. I think some of those Indian spinning wickets as well, I think that last tour, Delhi we should have won. It just gets the teams close to each other if you get the wickets like that, but you don't hear our players complaining about those types of wickets," Cummins added.
Cummins has already had significant success against India in 2023, and this forthcoming series will be his first Test series against them at home as captain. Australia won a second victory over Rohit Sharma's team in the ODI World Cup final later that year after defeating India in the World Test Championship final under his leadership.
