Carrara Oval, the Metricon Stadium (its earlier name) or now the People First Stadium will be the host to the India and Australian sides for the fourth and penultimate clash of the ongoing T20I series between India and Australia. Following the washout in the opening game in Canberra, the series is finely poised, with both teams winning one game each. Australia blew India out of the waters with Josh Hazlewood running riot on a spicy MCG wicket, while the Men in Blue came back strongly with a professional chase in Hobart over the weekend.
It sets up interesting final two games even though Australia already have one eye on the Ashes and hence, have started releasing players, who will be playing that first Test in Perth, while India too are in a mood to experiment and try out different combinations, keeping the T20 World Cup in mind.
Carrara Oval, Gold Coast pitch report
However, there exists a bit of uncertainty regarding the venue, one of the newest international stadiums in Australia, hosting just its third men's international fixture, one of which was a 10-over clash, back in 2018. Carrara has been gaining popularity as a cricketing venue, especially during the BBL, after having hosted a rare women's day-night Test back in 2021 and having the Indian men's team land on its shores will do a world of good. So how has the venue fared, you ask?
In BBL, the venue has the sixth-highest strike rate for batters and even though the most recent men's international T20I in 2022 produced a sub-140 score, the venue is known for ball coming nicely onto the bat. Batting first, the scores were 152 and 214 in the two BBL matches in the previous season. With the proximity to the coastline, wind and humidity also play their part, but all-in-all, Carrara is usually good for batters.
The swing bowlers will get some early assistance because of the wind factor and hence, the captain winning the toss will be tempted to bowl first but in the last five BBL games at the venue, the team chasing has won only once. Should be an interesting one!