The bowler who is leading the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series currently tied at 1-1 with an impressive 21 wickets that came at an average of just 10.9 is Bumrah. "I think all the quick bowlers get excited when they come here now. It gets through well for us.".
We are never going to be as quick as Perth or Brisbane, but over the last few years we have managed to get some pace into it, which has created that excitement. There is a bit of grass on it. If you are a fast bowler and you look at it you probably do get excited," Page said to reporters on Monday.
He also defended the nature of pitches India were offered in their net practice on Saturday and Sunday, especially with murmurs coming out that the visitors' were not pleased with the surfaces offering low bounce.
For us, three days out, we prepare Test match pitches for here. If teams come and train before that, they get what pitches we have had. Today, we are on fresh pitches. If India had trained this morning, they would have been on those fresh pitches. It's stock standard procedure for us, three days out."
With day one of the match being a total sell out, the temperature in Melbourne is also expected to hit 40 degrees. Page stated that the scorching heat will not affect the pitch preparation for the crunch clash, with six millimetres of grass to be left on the surface.
"It probably means it might quicken up a bit quicker than what it would if it was 20. Whether we leave a bit more moisture in it, I can't say yes or no at this stage. We'll keep monitoring the weather. and adjust our preparation accordingly. We've been really happy with the last couple of years, so it's a rinse-and-repeat job for us."
The author goes to page and reflects about the Melbourne pitch, "which once provided draws".
"Seven years ago, we were quite flat. We sat down as an organization and said we want to create more exciting contests, more exciting Test matches, so we leave more grass on it now.
That brings the bowlers in a little more, but they are still good for batting once the new ball goes off. We want to give the bowlers their opportunities at different times of the game and then also give a chance to the batters if they are playing really well. So we messed around with grass levels, compaction, and moisture - that was probably three years of finding what worked pretty well.
Page signed off by reflecting on the changing nature of the Melbourne pitch, which used to previously offer draws. "Seven years ago, we were quite flat. We sat down as an organisation and said we want to create more exciting contests, more exciting Test matches, so we leave more grass on it now."
Read also| BGT: Shastri Advises Rohit to Apply White-Ball Mindset While Batting at No. 6
Read also| Kohli, Smith, Root Will Decide Retirement on Their Terms, Says Greg Chappell
