Australian batsman Aaron Finch feels that his team can use the extra bounce on offer at the WACA ground in Perth to their advantage against India in the first One-Day International on Tuesday. 

India will begin their limited overs tour of Australia with the first ODI in Perth, which marks their first 50-over game against Australia at the WACA ground since 2004.

Finch admits that the pitch at the WACA ground has changed over the past few years but still reckons there is enough bounce in it to unsettle the Indian batsmen.

“The Perth wicket probably has changed a little bit over the last few years.

“I don’t think that there is same amount of carry as there used to be.

“There is still that bit of extra bounce and that’s something that they will have to adjust to and we can start to exploit that straightaway in the very first game of the series.

“But I think their young players, who have come at the back of the legends, guys like Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan and Virat Kohli are pretty well-rounded players.

“I am sure they will adapt but if we can exploit that first up, I think that can go a long way to winning a match.” 

Many members of the Australian ODI side will be coming into the series straight from the Big Bash League but Finch does not feel that the change in formats will cause any problem.

“Any cricket at a high level, whether it is Test cricket, Big Bash cricket or domestic cricket, I think you are up to speed with the game anyway, so that’s not a huge change to me.

“But at the same time, the principles of the game remain the same.

“Still trying to give it a smack at the top of the innings with Davey Warner for me personally and that’s great fun.”

Australia have enjoyed a great couple of years in domestic cricket and topped it up by winning their fifth Cricket World Cup title in 2015 by beating New Zealand at home.

In 2014 and 2015, Australia have won 28 out of the 37 ODIs they played, maintaining a win-loss ratio of 3.500 – the best for any team in the period.

India are not far behind having reached the semi-finals of the 2015 Cricket World Cup, but Australia will start the ODI series as the favourites.

Australia’s Twenty20 International captain feels that the team deserves the favorites tag as they have played excellent cricket over the last couple of years.

“When you have that tag, that means you have played good cricket.

“It means you are favourites or there is excitement around your team because you have played so well in the past and I think that is something that we can hang our head on.

“We’ve had an extraordinary World Cup; we had a great couple of years leading into that.

“So, I think we deserve that tag and there is no reason why there shouldn’t be a big build-up and a big amount of excitement around our team.” 

In the recent times, there has been a question about the dwindling popularity of the ODI format amidst the rising interest in the T20s.

But Finch refused to agree to that notion and cited the crowd that came to witness the action in the 2015 Cricket World Cup as a proof that ODI cricket still has the ability to attract strong crowds. 

“Well I think the (2015) World Cup that we had here proved that the game is in great hands.

“The amount of crowd that showed up for the World Cup was phenomenal.

“The amount of support that all the teams around the world had, people travelling from all around the world to watch a one-day tournament, I think was pretty special.

“So I think ODI cricket is still going unbelievably strong.” 

The last time Australia managed to secure a win in a bilateral contest against India was in the 2009-10 away series which they won 4-2.

© Cricket World 2016