Perth pitch a key to changing first Test fortunes

At some point in a dystopian future, cricket badgers of generations yet-to-appear might examine scorecards of the first Test of the 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series and speculate they were AI-generated.

How else to explain a game played across two consecutive days in near identical weather conditions where the initial 85 overs yielded 19 wickets for the addition of 229 runs, only for a solitary wicket costing 189 to come from the subsequent 74 overs.

That's an average of less than 12 runs per wicket in the first half and a bit of a contest that suddenly blew out to a return of just under 190 per breakthrough come the second.

In pedagogical terms, that disparity represents more than simply a statistical aberration and one that would surely require a learned student of the sport to break down in layperson terms.

But Australia men's team coach Andrew McDonald, who with World Test Championship and 50-over World Cup trophies to his name qualifies as just such an authority, was as perplexed as any future scholar might be in understanding what's happened at Perth Stadium over the preceding 48 hours.

"I think the wicket has changed considerably," was McDonald's best guess when confronted by an end-of-day scoreboard that showed India 0-172 and 218 runs in the ascendancy after Australia was knocked over for 104.

"If you look at the seam and swing, it was down comparative to yesterday (when) it was difficult work.

"I thought (India openers) KL (Rahul) and (Yashasvi) Jaiswal played extremely well also.

"But I think the conditions have changed."

While the nature of five-day cricket is that the character of a turf pitch will evolve dependent on ambient weather, players' foot traffic and natural degradation, it's fair to say the transformation that's taken place in Perth seems due to some sort of sorcery.

A clue might lie in the atypical weather that accompanied preparation of the surface at Perth Stadium where average first innings totals across the four previous Tests it has hosted is just above 450.

The threat of up to 12mm of rain in the days immediately prior to Friday's first ball meant curator Isaac McDonald was wary of pumping too much water into the pitch lest it prove overly damp and soft come game time.

But such is the fickle science of forecasting, not all that predicted precipitation made landfall inside the arena on the banks of the Swan River which means there's a chance the lively nature on the track on day one led to a marked change when it dried under today's sunny 29°C.

"The surface looked considerably drier today, and it dried out fairly quickly," McDonald said.

"We thought there may have been a little bit more there so, if you want to say it, we were a little bit surprised there wasn't as much seam movement or swing.

"And I think the bowlers were presenting the seam in a similar fashion to what they were yesterday, so the conditions may have had some say in that.

"You needed to ride your luck a little bit also.

"Our guys got the balls in the right areas and there were some plays and misses as well.

"Anything can happen if you get some edges on that (pitch), it could be a totally different day.

"In terms of the way we bowled, I don't think it was too dissimilar (to day one).

"Potentially early on we may have been a fraction short if I was to be critical."

Another variable to which McDonald pointed was that Jaiswal (who resumes tomorrow on 90 having nicked off for a duck in the first innings) and Rahul (62no following 26 in more than 100 minutes yesterday) are the only players in the game to date to have batted twice.

And given the difficulties all batters faced in dealing with the bounce and movement off the opening-day surface, the pair's ability to forge a plan of counter-attack from an informed perspective might also help to explain a turnaround which otherwise reads as a work of fantasy.

Regardless of what happens beneath their feet over the next three days, McDonald believes his team's best chance of securing a grip in a game which India currently presides from a lofty height should come shortly before lunch tomorrow.

That's when the second new ball becomes due and, given India have all 10 second-innings wickets in place and at least another full day across which they might conceivably bat, looms as the home team's last good hope of reeling them in.

'We've got some problems to solve ahead of us," McDonald conceded.

"There's no doubt we're clearly well behind the game at this stage, India have got the driver's seat at the moment.

"But that's not to say that tomorrow can't change very quickly, Test cricket ebbs and flows.

'We've all been part of a game when you've been well ahead of the game, and it can twist and turn.

'We've got to get to work on what it looks like for us tomorrow morning.

"We've got to work out a way to navigate a way through a few batters before that second new ball arrives and that could be our entry point back into the game."

NRMA Insurance Men's Test Series v India

First Test: November 22-26: Perth Stadium, 1.20pm AEDT

Second Test: December 6-10: Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (D/N)

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: (first Test only) Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed