The crucial call India must make to show they’ll be brave enough to fight fire with Aussie fire

Memo Australian and Indian batters: prepare to get hurt in Perth.

If recent history is any guide this will be more than just another fast and bouncy Perth pitch for the first Test against India, beginning on Friday. It will be dangerous.

Former Australian captain Steve Waugh once made the point that you have to be brave to bat in Perth. It tests your physical and mental courage. On the evidence of last year it will take some very brave batters to conjure a victory if their team is batting last. But will India be brave enough to bat first if they win the toss?

Curator Isaac McDonald claimed that “in a perfect world, I want to emulate last year”. This means players are going to be struck by the flying ball at abnormally high rates as Perth’s Optus Stadium pitch deteriorates.

As the pitch cracked and plates formed on day three during the opening Test against Pakistan last December, batters from both teams faced increasing danger during their second innings.

Players were hit more often than the previous three Tests at the venue and suffered blows at double the rate of other grounds around the country.

Among them were Manus Labuschagne, who required scans after play on day three to clear him of any serious damage to his right hand. Mitch Marsh had to replace his helmet twice after being struck attempting hook shots.

“It was a pretty nasty delivery,” Marsh said of the lifter that struck Labuschagne.

Mark Waugh wasn’t happy with the way the Australians played the short ball at times. “I wouldn’t like to be pulling and hooking on this pitch,” Waugh said on Fox. “It seems to be a very dangerous shot on an up-and-down pitch.”

Usman Khawaja also received a nasty blow during the first session on day four, ducking into a short ball that did not get up. Steve Smith was hit on the arm and needed treatment.

CricViz statistics provided by Fox Cricket found that by the end of the Australian innings midway through day four, batters had been hit 20 times as the ball began to deviate wildly.

This compared to 16 times in the entire Test against New Zealand in 2019 and 14 times in the Test against India in 2018, when the pitch was described as dangerous. Batters during the West Indies Test in Perth two seasons ago were also hit 14 times. The average around the country is 10 times per Test.

Batting last Pakistan had a terrible time during their second innings as the ball jagged off the cracks, either rising sharply or shooting through low. It was no surprise that they were bowled out for 89 in 30.2 overs.

Despite leading by more than 200 on the first innings following a blazing 164 from David Warner on the opening day, Australia captain Pat Cummins declined to enforce the follow-on for what became very obvious reasons.

“The follow-on is very easy [to explain], Cummins said on Channel Seven. “The fourth innings, the later the game goes on, the easier it is going to be to take wickets.”

McDonald is aiming for “really good pace, really good bounce and really good carry”.

“Both bowling units were pretty rapid last year and I’m hoping for much the same this year,” McDonald told Cricinfo last week. “But, as we saw last year, good batters were able to take the game on and put away balls and score runs quickly.”

A battered Pakistan would disagreed.

There may be a temptation to bowl first in Perth against an Indian side coming off their historic 3-0 drubbing by New Zealand on the low, slow pitches of India.

Touring teams have often struggled to acclimatise with the extra pace and bounce of Perth.

And the way an Australian side, minus most of its international stars, was cleaned up by Pakistan’s fast bowlers during the third and final one-day match in Perth last week, bowled out for 140, would have given Australia’s fast bowlers no end of excitement.

Numerous batters succumbed to hostile short balls, while all-rounder Cooper Connolly had to retire hurt after copping a blow to his left hand attempting to pull Mohammad Hasnain. He was taken for scans and subsequently ruled out of the Twenty20 series against Pakistan with a broken hand.

But history shows that since moving from the WACA Ground across the Swan River to the new stadium, Australia have won all four Tests by at least 146 runs batting first.

And that 146-run win was against India in the first Test at the 60,000-seat arena in 2018 when Steve Smith and Warner were banned following the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

So however much Cummins and his fellow quicks Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc may relish first use of a grassy Perth pitch, the local skipper will likely ask his openers, Usman Khawaja and debutant Nathan McSweeney, to face the music from Jasprit Bumrah and company.

But if India win the toss and field, they’ll be in danger of raising the white flag before a ball is bowled in the series.