New Delhi: India’s big-margin victory at bouncy Perth would have them brimming with confidence ahead of the second Test that begins in Adelaide on Friday. But Australia’s spotless 7-0 record in day-night Tests with the pink balls at Adelaide keeps them equally formidable irrespective of their 295-run drubbing at Perth.
The series opener turned out to be a dream for the touring side as not only their Jasprit Bumrah led bowling attack exposed the vulnerability of Aussie batters, Yaashasvi Jaiswal, Rohit Sharma and KL Rahul got big scores to set up a memorable win.
Batters with runs under their belt early on in an away series is always a good omen, and India would hope they would carry on from here. Their batting would also be bolstered by the returns of regular skipper Rohit Sharma from paternity leave and Shubman Gill from thumb injury.
Jasiwal and Rahul’s 201-run opening stand in the second innings at Perth was enough to convince the team management of continuing with them in the pink-ball Test, despite Rohit being the long-time opener.
Gill would also slot in in his preferred position of No.3, with Rohit demoting himself to the middle order.
It indicates stability and belief in the squad, just as Washington Sundar could once again get the nod veteran spin duo of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, despite ground curator’s insistence on tweakers getting purchase from the wicket.
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝗽 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲 🔛 #TeamIndia gearing up for the Pink-Ball Test in Adelaide 👌 👌#AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/5K4DlBtOE6
— BCCI (@BCCI) December 4, 2024
“We want result, we want success. Those two guys at the top they batted brilliantly in Perth. I was watching from home. Rahul was brilliant to watch. He deserves that place at this point in time,” Rohit said in a pre-match interaction with reporters.
“There is no need to change that now, may be things will be different in future. Personally not easy for me (to move down) but for the team it made a lot of sense,” said Rohit adding that he will bat somewhere in the middle.
Aussies formidable in pink ball Tests
Australia have a lot to do at Adelaide to square the series but they would back themselves to turn it around in the day-night encounter where they have an enviable record at home.
They are yet to lose a match played with pink balls, winning all seven they have played so far, even beating India at Adelaide in 2020. Pat Cummins’ side would certainly take cues from that win as they welcome Scott Boland in the playing XI in lace of injured pacer Josh Hazlewood and persist with the struggling batter Marnus Labuschagne.
Boland’s inclusion after an 18-month gap and patience with Labuschagne were made with an eye in their impressive records in pink ball games and hope that they can reproduce it again.
“Traditionally here there’s normally a bit of nip which obviously suits Scotty quite well,” Cummins said on Thursday.
“As a captain it’s pretty awesome for someone like Scotty to come in. You know he can bowl a huge amount of overs if you need. He’s super consistent, he’s performed at this level, so he’s ready to go.”
But no matter how many wickets Boland claims, Australia need to produce a far better batting display than what they could at Perth with the glare obviously on Labuschagne and their star Steve Smith, both of whom badly needs runs after prolonged dry spells.
Opener Nathan McSweeney also needs to justify his inclusion after a horror debut as Bumrah would undoubtedly be a handful, once again.
Match details
India vs Australia, 2nd Test at Adelaide
Start time: 9.30am IST
Live on Star Sports Network and Hotstar
India lead 1-0 in the five-Test Border-Gavaskar series with the 2nd game, a day-night affair, beginning in Adelaide on Friday Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
