Indian team, on Tuesday, was sent an early warning from the curator of the Optus Stadium pitch as a "fast and bouncy" pitch awaits the visitors in Perth for the Border-Gavaskar Test series opener against Australia on Sunday. The development came moments after India began their secret training camp at the WACA ground amid a lockdown in the stadium.

According to a report in ESPNCricinfo, the drop-in pitch moved to the Perth venue last month and has been curated since September. The surface is expected to match the fiery WACA track, which used to host Test matches in the city until the 2018/19 season. The track contains the same clay and grass species as the familiar WACA track.

"This is Australia, this is Perth... I'm setting ourselves up for really good pace, really good bounce and really good carry," WA Cricket head curator Isaac McDonald told the website. “In a perfect world, I want to emulate last year.”

Last summer, Perth had rolled out one of the toughest pitches where the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith and Usman Khawaja copped blows before the visiting Pakistan side were bowled out for just 89 in 30.2 overs on day four, en route to a win for the home team.

"It's [10 mm] a good starting point," McDonald said. "Ten millimetres was pretty comfortable with the conditions that we had [last year] and that held the conditions together nicely for the first few days. Live grass on the pitch is speed. Both bowling units were pretty rapid last year and hoping for much the same this year. But, as we saw last year, good batters were able to take the game on and put away balls and score runs quickly. It's a juggling act but hopefully the match gets into day five or the last session of day four like last year. If we can get some nice cracks forming later in the game...the game takes care of itself."

How have India performed in Perth?

India played just once at the Optus Stadium in the 2018/19 tour. Virat Kohli scored a stunning 123, which Australia legend Adam Gilchrist labelled as one of the best centuries he has seen at the venue. Despite the heroics from the then skipper, a first-innings fifer and an eight-wicket match haul from Nathan Lyon saw Australia script a 146-run win.

In fact, Kohli is the only batter from the current Indian side to have even played at the old Perth Test venue, WACA, in the 2012/13 tour, where he had scored 44 and 75, albeit in a losing cause. Not to forget, incumbent head coach Gautam Gambhir too was part of the match where he scored 31 and 14.

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