After a close finish in the series opener in Adelaide, Australia are in no mood of giving any freebies to the Indian batsmen as a ‘well-grassed wicket’ is awaiting Team India at the Brisbane Cricket Ground in the second Test, starting December 17.
The wicket at Gabba has traditionally helped pacers and Aussie speedster Mitchell Johnson unleashed a fury of bouncers on England in the Ashes Test series. Seamers are likely to be in the picture once again at Gabba, as curator Kevin Mitchell has prepared a lively wicket.
“It’s a well grassed wicket,” Mitchell insisted. “We are aiming for a typical Gabba wicket – life and bounce and pace is always what we are trying to achieve. At this stage, we are tracking along well.”
Green-top will certainly put smiles on Australian pace attack, featuring the likes of Johnson, Ryan Harris and Peter Siddle. Indians, meanwhile, also have quality pacers – Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Mohammed Shami – which can bowl at a rate of knots.
Team India will receive a further boost as regular skipper MS Dhoni will join the squad for the remaining three Test matches, after recovering from an injury niggle.
