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Australia plan to embrace Test crowd, political event

3 minute read

Acting captain Steve Smith says Australia will thrive on the opportunity to play in front of more than 100,000 people at the fourth Test in Ahmedabad.

STEVE SMITH.
STEVE SMITH. Picture: Michael Dodge/Getty Images

Australia plan to embrace the expected chaos of a political meeting that threatens to overshadow the start of the fourth and final Test against India.

The opening day of the Border-Gavaskar series finale in Ahmedabad promises to be one of the most bizarre moments in cricket history when an estimated 110,000 people turn up to the stadium named after India's current prime minister.

Narendra Modi will welcome Australia's leader Anthony Albanese to the colosseum named in the Indian PM's honour to celebrate "75 years of friendship through cricket".

Preparations are already well under way inside the stadium, with signs and posters of Modi and Albanese being set up everywhere, even in place of where a sight screen should be.

The political pair will take part in a series of events before the Test, including being involved in an opening ceremony.

But rather than be daunted by the thought of playing in front of a world record crowd for a day of Test cricket, acting Australia captain Steve Smith is excited by the prospect.

The record attendance for a single day stands at 91,112 from the Boxing Day Test between Australia and England at the MCG in 2013-14.

"It is a good chance of being a pretty cool atmosphere," Smith said on Wednesday.

"A lot of the guys haven't seen this stadium before. They've walked in today and it's huge

"If we get somewhere up around that (110,000) number, it'd be unbelievable, the atmosphere.

"We know how loud some of these grounds are over here in India, so if there's 100,000-plus out there, it's going to be pretty loud.

"It'd be really just a great vibe and atmosphere out there to play in front of."

Adding another layer of unpredictability into the mix, Australia only discovered the pitch they will play on less than 24 hours out from the toss with India's pesky curators preparing two surfaces.

India coach Rahul Dravid and captain Rohit Sharma undertook lengthy inspections of the centre wicket when the hosts trained at the Ahmedabad ground on Tuesday.

But after securing a famous nine-wicket win in Indore last week, Australia will back themselves to level the series 2-2 no matter which pitch is rolled out.

"It'd be a huge achievement for the group, or any touring team that comes here to India and wins two Test matches," Smith said.

"Unfortunately, we weren't able to do it earlier in the series and give ourselves a chance to win but to draw the series here would be a positive for this group."

Australia will likely enter the match with an unchanged XI after star quick Mitchell Starc and allrounder Cameron Green were crucial inclusions in Indore.

But Smith concedes the pitch will dictate whether they take their three spinners - Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann - into battle for a third consecutive Test.

Before the second Test in Delhi, Australia had played three frontline spinners in the same match just twice this century - in Bangladesh in 2006 and 2017.

"Perhaps it (the Ahmedabad pitch) may not spin as much from the first ball or the first day but I do think it will spin as the game goes on," Smith said.

"There might be opportunities for bigger totals on this wicket.

"We're not fussed or anything, we've never complained or anything about the wickets we go out and play."

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