The Sydney pitch has a “huge connection” to the Indian situations, mentioned Australia skipper Pat Cummins forward of the third Test in opposition to South Africa, hoping it should present his facet best preparation for his or her upcoming red-ball sequence in India.
Australia are main the three-Test sequence in opposition to South Africa 2-0 and a win at SCG will all however seal their ultimate spot on the World Test Championships Final to be held on the Oval in June.
Australia have usually struggled in subcontinent situations and a dry, spinning floor is predicted on the SCG, retaining in thoughts the upcoming tour of India in February.
“It’s a huge connection to India,” Cummins instructed reporters on Tuesday.
“Fast bowling and reverse swing goes to come back into it, which we will count on in India. Probably get extra spin overs right here, our batters are most likely going to face extra spin right here as effectively, so it’s a very good connection.
“Even personally, captaining here might be a little different to the last few Test matches,” he added.
Australia presently are sitting fairly atop the WTC factors desk with 10 wins from 14 Tests. In their final sequence earlier than the ultimate, Cummins and Co. will face India, who’re second with eight wins.
Australia are eyeing a WTC ultimate in June earlier than taking over arch-rivals England within the five-Test Ashes marketing campaign.
“It’s been a big driver for us over the last couple of years. I think playing in London (in) a final against India, say, at a neutral venue, that’s really exciting.” Australia had missed out on the WTC ultimate spot within the inaugural version to New Zealand after being docked 4 factors by the ICC for being two overs behind within the 2020 Boxing Day Test.
“It was still a new concept so even things like overs rates – it wasn’t really spoken about as importantly as perhaps what we think about it now,” mentioned the Australian tempo spearhead.
“I believe we obtained all the way down to 9 minutes down at one stage (in a current Test) so we simply made certain we had Travis Head or ‘Smithy’ (Steve Smith, two part-time spin bowlers) as an possibility and we obtained again principally inside a few overs.
“Having simply missed out on the World Test Championship ultimate final cycle, that was at all times going to be an enormous objective. I believe we’ve been enjoying fantastically, we’ve put ourselves in that place to earn that spot early which is a large driver for us.
“It’s always exciting going to England and playing an Ashes series, but adding in a World Test Championship final is huge.” The first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy begins in Nagpur on February 9. The subsequent three Tests shall be held in Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad respectively.
