"When there’s wickets, the wickets are tough" - Mitchell Starc after a chaotic start to BGT 2024-25
Australian pacer Mitchell Starc defended the surface at the Optus Stadium in Perth that yielded 17 wickets on the opening day of the Boder-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 on Friday, November 22. The pitch sported pace, bounce, and seam movement throughout the day as the seamers thrived at the expense of the batters.
Opting to bat first, Team India skittled out for 150 after playing out 49.4 overs. In reply, Australia were reduced to 67-7 in the final session, and trail by 83 runs at Stumps on Day 1. The trend is likely to continue on Day 2 as the Test is headed for a quick finish.
The pitch is bound to come under the scanner following the string of low scores. The first Test between Australia and South Africa in late 2022, which finished inside two days, resulted in The Gabba receiving a demerit point and a 'below average' rating by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
“How many ways can use skin a cat? Bowlers are allowed to bowl good balls. When there’s a lot of runs, it’s like, ‘Oh, the bowlers bowled badly. When there’s wickets, the wickets are tough.’ (But) you are allowed to bowl good balls and maybe credit should go to both teams and bowlers," Starc said at the end of Day 1 (via Fox Sports).
“Sure, there’s plenty in the wicket when you put it in the right area and it was hard work for batting, but as I said, you’re allowed to bowl good balls and there were plenty of those today," he added.
The 17 wickets to fall on Day 1 between India and Australia in Perth is the highest witnessed on an opening day of a Test Down Under since 1952.
"That’s probably the slowest outfield we’ve seen over in the west for a long time" - Mitchell Starc
The left-arm pacer also pointed out that the slow outfield on offer was another contributing factor behind the difficulty in producing runs. There were several instances where the batters were able to breach the gaps in the field, but despite the pace of the ball, it died down after breaking through the players, with the long boundaries also not helping the case.
"I think there was a fair bit of good bowling today. Obviously, there was enough in the wicket and it probably felt like it was a hardball wicket," Starc opined.
“When the ball started to get a little bit softer towards the the back end of that Indian innings, it probably didn’t do as much. (There was) still enough there, but it didn’t do as much as the brand new hardball. So I guess that’s something for teams to take in the second innings. “If you can get through the testing period, it does get slightly easier. That being said, the outfield is quite slow, so that probably made runs a bit hard to come by. That’s probably the slowest outfield we’ve seen over in the west for a long time," Starc elaborated.
Mitchell Starc finished with figures of 2-14 off his 11 overs, accounting for the wickets of both Indian opening batters, Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul.