The third Test match between Australia and India of the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test series is to be played at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) from January 7. It is an important game for both sides, as the series stands 1-1 after the home side’s win in Adelaide and visitors dominating in Melbourne.
On the eve of the Test match, Cricket Australia shared a photo of the pitch on which the match will be played and it looked like a hard surface with plenty of grass coverage on it to keep it together for five days.
Sydney is expecting showers during the duration of the Test and SCG curator Adam Lewis said hosting a Test is the biggest stage for them and considering the fickle weather this year, they have rolled out a pretty good wicket for the match, starting Thursday.
"The weather was our main concern and just the talk about not getting the Sydney Test. We understand that the amount of effort that goes into preparing a Test like, you got to understand, this is our grand final," Lewis said at a virtual press conference.
"This is our biggest stage of the year and we put so much in putting on the day. Look to be awarded the Test by New South Wales government and Cricket Australia, we were foreseeing ahead. We just did our preparation around the weather and we think we have rolled up a really good wicket,” he added.
Lewis replied in the affirmative when asked if the surface was similar to that when Australia took on New Zealand last year. He said, "The key is that every year, it is so different from the weather. So, we try to give them (the teams) that hard surface with a good amount of grass."
“Three years ago we had England (here), we had late 30 degrees (celsius) days, hot-gusty winds, that is totally different to this year, when we had really high humidity, rain (and) cover. We had got the first bit of direct summer light on to the wicket only three days ago, so we are just doing the best we can with the elements that are dished out to us," he said.
India has announced their playing XI for the Sydney Test match, which sees Rohit Sharma replacing Mayank Agarwal in the opening slot, while Navdeep Saini makes his debut in Tests, replacing injured Umesh Yadav.
(IANS inputs)
