Australia captain Pat Cummins said that the home side was not under pressure ahead of the first Test of the five-match BGT 2024 series. The first Test will begin on November 22 in Perth.
Australia will be eyeing to avoid a hat-trick of Test series defeats at home at the hands of India, who won their last two series in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
Pat Cummins admitted there will always be pressure to play at home and it wasn't necessitated by the intention to undo their poor record in the last 10 years as far as the rivalry is concerned.
"No pressure, there will always be pressure when you are playing at home. India are a talented side and it will be a good challenge. Not looking too far. It would be great to win the Border Gavaskar Trophy. India are a great side but we are prepared," Cummins said on the eve of the first Test in Perth.
On both sides of the camp, there are newcomers with Nathan McSweeney set to make his debut for the Aussies at the top of the order and Nitish Reddy expected to get the nod for India.
"He should play his natural game. He shouldn't try to imitate David Warner. That's not his game. As long as he makes the bowlers bowl again and again, that's his game," said Cummins on McSweeney.
On Reddy, who Cummins shared the dressing room with for his IPL franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, he said, "He is an impressive youngster. Didn't bowl much for SRH. He can swing the ball and is a talented kid."
With Cameron Green ruled out for the next 6 months due to back surgery, Mitchell Marsh will have to shoulder bowling duties with Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, and Mitchell Starc. Cummins said there is "no upper limit" on how many bowlers he will bowl against India.
"We never put an upper limit on anyone. He will definitely bowl this Test. He is an all-rounder and with the way we four bowlers set out, we never really budget around an all-rounder bowling heaps. I would imagine a few spells in each innings. He is ready to go and he's been bowling great this week, his body is the best it has been for a while. I don't have an answer, but he's ready to go and happy to bowl as much as we need,” Cummins added.
(PTI inputs)
