The ex-Captain of Australia and one of the great batsmen of the world, Ricky Ponting assumes his team will get accustomed with the green top and bouncy wicket at Western Australia Cricket Association Ground (WACA) briskly as compared to the struggling Indians.

Most of the Indian batsmen surrendered against the destructive pace attack of the Kangaroos in the previous two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney. The visiting batsmen were sent back to the pavilion twice in each encounter and the home side clinched victories in the both Tests with a day to spare.

The surface at WACA is one of the fastest around the globe and supposed to be a paradise for the quickies who have produced magical results in the past. India was victorious on this ground when they last visited and played here on 16, 17, 18 and 19 January, 2008. Their fast bowling trio of Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma and RP Singh accounted for 14 wickets in the match which was conquered by them by 72 runs.

England won the Ashes 3-1 when they visited Australia last time in 2010-11. The visitors won all three encounters at Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney by a margin of over an innings. They were unable to sustain the pressure of four men pace army of the Kangaroos which let them down by 267 runs.

The timid batsmen always find them struggling on the speedy track at Perth but there is always room for the technically perfect batsmen who can make their blades talking. It will be great dual between the bat and the ball as foreseen by Ponting, who said, “Everyone who comes and watches cricket in Perth wants to see batsmen ducking and weaving out of the way of short balls, batsmen getting great benefit for their shots down the ground, lots of square-of-the-wicket shots being played. If we get a fast, bouncy one this week, then I’m sure with the batting talent on display you’ll see a lot of great highlights throughout the week.”

The Aussies have the advantage to get familiarised with the WACA pitch while taking part in the domestic Cricket and playing international matches. The majority of their international players are acquainted with the attitude of the beaming pitch and they get accustomed with that instantly as compared to the visiting teams.

The Australians grow up while playing on the bouncy wickets all over the country as compared to the sub-continent tracks which do not provide much assistance to the fast bowlers. The curator at WACA, Cam Sutherland has predicted that the wicket in the match will be 20% quicker than the one in 2008, when India won the game here. Ponting was convinced that the Kangaroos will adjust rapidly as compared to the Indians. He further commented,
“As Australian players growing up on fast, bouncy pitches – obviously this is the fastest and bounciest wicket in the world – we should be able to adapt to these conditions a bit quicker than the Indians.”

The Indian batsmen performed well in the 3rd Test of the series at Perth in January, 2008. Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar thrashed 93 and 71 runs respectively followed by 79 runs by VVS Laxman in the second innings. They will be anticipating to repeat their previous achievement but their batsmen has to perform bravely if they want to come back in the series.