Aussies in a spin over first Test pitch

The curiosity that is the pitch at Pune's Maharashtra Cricket Stadium has forced Australia to rethink their plans for the opening Test against India and actively consider the deployment of three specialist spin bowlers.

Despite being recently elevated to exalted status in the city, having toppled the much revered MS Dhoni to take over the captaincy of Pune's fledgling IPL franchise earlier in the week, Smith admits he's never before seen a pitch like the one prepared for tomorrow's Test.

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Either at the vast concrete bowl built on the outskirts of Pune several years ago, or at any of the other 28 venues that he's played Test cricket in a career spanning 50 appearances.

As a result, Australia's pre-match mindset that their best bowling options would be two quicks (Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood), a pair of spinners (Nathan Lyon and Steve O'Keefe) and a seam-bowling allrounder (Mitchell Marsh) are being earnestly re-examined.

The belief that reverse swing will play as important a role as spin – on a ground that features six heavily trafficked practice pitches on the centre wicket block which should hasten attrition on the ball – means that might still be the option the tourists take.

But so bemused were the Australians when they took their first look at the dry, cracked, patchy strip two days out from the start of the four-Test series they are earnestly considering all alternative options.

Including, according to Smith, the possibility of playing just one front-line quick and a third specialist spinner which would leave Marsh as the second pace-bowling option.

"I haven't really seen a wicket like that before a Test match, so I think it is going to take a lot of spin and potentially some up-and-down movement for the fast bowlers as well," Smith said today ahead of his team's final pre-Test training session.

"It looks a bit different to the T20 wickets we have played on here, where the ball generally goes through, they are really nice wickets.

"Yesterday it looked pretty dry, quite sort of crusty.

"I think it will take spin from ball one.

"There are a couple of divots out of the wicket as well."

The idea that Australia might leave out either Starc or Hazlewood – their two leading Test wicket takers over the past 12 months – seems as far-fetched as the Pune curator's claim that his pitch will suit the seamers and offer bounce and pace, from which the ball will "fly".

But such were the number of earnest huddles to form between captain, coach Darren Lehmann and interim selection chair Trevor Hohns during the team's main pre-game training session yesterday it's clear that all possible scenarios are being entertained.

Including, perhaps, the inclusion of uncapped leg spinner Mitchell Swepson who is the only untried member of the 16-man squad.

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"We've obviously got a few options there," Smith said today. "We've thrown up everyone, I think everyone is capable of doing a job and everyone is different so it's a big decision as to whether we play one fast bowler, or two quicks and a spin bowling allrounder, or three straight spinners.

"We'll have another look (at the pitch) today and I don't think the wicket is going to change a great deal from what we saw overnight.

"The groundsman said he wasn't going to put any more water on it so it's going to be incredibly dry.

"We sort of know what we were likely to expect wicket-wise, we have got people here to cover all bases.

"The selectors and I had a conversation yesterday, we will have another look today and from there make a decision which way to go."

But Smith also conceded that the initial plan, to employ a seam-based attack complemented by the spin pair of Lyon and O'Keefe, is still a distinct possibility given the likelihood of reverse swing being a pivotal factor.

In the wake of Australia's sole warm-up match in Mumbai last weekend, Lehmann spoke of the role that swing with the old ball was likely to play.

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And he identified Marsh as integral to those plans, along with Starc and Hazlewood, while also noting the seam-bowling allrounder was one of his team's better-performed batters in Asian conditions over recent years.

Smith also gave an indication that, despite the dry nature of the Test pitch, the essential decision facing selectors was whether a spin bowling allrounder (Glenn Maxwell or Ashton Agar) would bring a greater benefit than Marsh's dual skills set.

"Training on the wickets yesterday, they were similar I guess to the middle, without being as dry and crusty and the ball broke up quite quick," Smith said.

"So I think we can see reverse swing happen quite quickly, but it's going to spin, there's no doubt about that.

"I think the wicket is going to be very slow and quite low as well, so it's going to be difficult to get wickets on the outside edge of the bat with the lack of carry.

"So attacking the stumps is going to be pretty important, and when you take one side of the bat out as well, I think you can be a lot easier to play as a batter.

"So reverse swing is going to be key, to get it going - particularly when the ball is a little bit harder, and that's always nice."

If the Australians are perplexed about the pitch, then India captain Virat Kohli was in no doubt as to what Pune would offer despite never before having played a Test at the venue.

Or if he does harbour uncertainties, he was too shrewd to air them publicly at his pre-match media conference and flag those insecurities to his opposition.

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"Even the one-day games we play here, the surface was dry underneath," Kohli said when asked for his assessment of the Pune pitch.

"It had a decent coverage of grass that you need to keep for the surface to hold itself together.

"This time of year, when the summer comes on the wicket, it gets lower and lower.

"That's what we expect from this wicket, we expect it to turn a bit as well from day two or day three.

"But here in general it's going to be a very basic Pune wicket which is what we always expect during summer time because it gets very hot and dry.

"And it's very difficult to keep the wicket together, so we understand exactly how the wicket is going to play."