‘Green Mamba’ deck awaits India in second Test

Australia’s Perth curator Brett Sipthorpe has landed himself in a bit of a bother with Cricket Australia (CA) over comments regarding the pitch which indicated that there has been quite a bit of pitch doctoring involved for the second Test in Perth.

The Curator declared in The West Australian that CA had requested a frighteningly fast and bouncy Perth pitch to unsettle an Indian side more accustomed to placid home conditions. The CA had denied such claims when it was contacted The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald. The latter had said in one of its report that the pitch could be identified as 'a deck which could be dubbed the "green mamba".'

"They want to see this place fly. That's like an early Christmas present to me. To get that fear in the eyes of the opposition turning up and seeing it fly ... beautiful," Sipthorpe told the local paper.

India skipper Virat Kohli insisted that they get excited when they see pacy pitches now.

"Yeah, for sure. We certainly get more excited than nervous looking at lively pitches now. We understand that we do have a bowling attack which can bowl the opposition out as much as they are convinced about their attack," he said.

"When you have four or five fast bowlers who are at the peak of their ability, it's always a great feeling to have in the side. For us as batsmen it also gives us a lot of motivation and boosts us up that we can put in those match-winning significant batting performances because we have so much belief in our bowling unit right now. We understand that if we bat well, we will definitely get the result that we want."

Australia had enjoyed a stranglehold over opponents on the fast and bouncy WACA wicket, losing just four tests in the past two decades. Three of those defeats were to South Africa, who relished the pace-friendly conditions similar to their homeland.

India's famous 72-run victory in 2008 was their sole triumph at the WACA, halting a Ricky Ponting-led Australia's world-record equaling 16-match winning streak.

Australia named an unchanged squad for the second Test but India will have to do without Rohit Sharma and Ravichandran Ashwin, both ruled out with injuries. The second Test starts Friday.

India squad: Virat Kohli (captain), M Vijay, Lokesh Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav.