A day and night game has come for Australia’s rescue at a time when they could not have needed it more. While losing just the first game of a five-match Test series should not bother them, there is more at stake than just the series. Looming above everything is their dwindling chances of making it to the World Test Championship (WTC) final. Fortunately for Australia, their love affair with the pink-ball games would give them the much-needed confidence to square the series before heading to the Gabba for the third game.
Barring England, no other full-member nation has played even half as many day-night games as Australia have. Not only are they richly knowledgeable when it comes to the complexities of playing with a pink ball, but they have also won all of their floodlit games except one. Over and above that, the Aussies are yet to lose a day-night game at Adelaide, having won all seven such games played here.
The knowledge that they come to Adelaide with a 295-run victory already in the bag would be serving India better than any nerve tonic right now. They can also draw confidence from the fact that West Indies thumped Australia in a day-night Test just eleven months ago. They, too, can think of doing the same. But before they dare do that, some issues would need some confrontation.
Team Overview:
Rohit Sharma had confirmed earlier that he will be batting ‘somewhere in the middle’, leaving the Rahul-Jasiwal pair untouched up top. This move could help India hit two targets with one shot. First, it gives Rahul another chance to bat at his preferred position and protect the team from falling apart. Second, it allows Rohit Sharma to examine his form in the calmness and safety of middle-order. India will again take the field without Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja as Washington Sundar is likely to be selected ahead of the duo once again. This leaves a nearly four-headed pace attack to exploit the Adelaide surface under the lights. Jasprit Bumrah would be a force to be reckoned with when he bowls with the pink ball.
One game down and Australia already have a pacer sidelined with injury. Josh Hazlewood will sit the game out with Scott Boland replacing him in the team. However, more worrying than bringing in someone who has not played cricket in months is that Australia’s batters have some unknown-ish thing going on with them. The top-order, more so, was incredibly dismal in Perth.
Granted, it was the team’s first Test game since March but plenty of these batters’ form issues started well before that. Steve Smith batted at four, went to open after David Warner left, and returned back to the number four position but has yet to churn runs the way he used to. Similar is the case with Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja, who have both been middling at best this year. Australia can not afford any more failures from their batters.
Head-to-Head Matches:
India and Australia have played 108 Test matches against each other. With 45 wins Australia dominate the match-up. While India’s 33 wins are lesser, most of them have come in the recent past. 29 games ended in a draw, while one was tied.
Weather and Pitch Report:
There will be nearly 6mm of grass left on the surface as told by the head curator at the Adelaide Oval. The new ball would be a killer for the batters early on. Despite that, the toss-winning captain would look to bat first to try to put as many runs as they can on the board. Adelaide’s usual favor for the batters could be lost in translation when playing under the lights, especially as the day progresses. Hence, batting in the third session would be the more difficult than other sessions. In addition to that, batting in the third innings is the least desirable here as India would remember from their historic collapse in 2020. Nathan Lyon hopes that the pitch will offer a turn as well, as it has done for him on previous occasions more than any other tweaker.
The weather could see the game endure a few delays on the first two days as a few mild showers are forecasted to make their way to the ground.
Where to Watch:
India: Star Sports
Australia: Fox Cricket, Kayo Sports, Channel 7 and 7Plus
Pakistan: Tapmad
UK: TNT, Discovery+
New Zealand: Sky NZ
MENA: Cricbuzz
Caribbean: SportsMax
Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan: JioStar
Southern Africa: Super Sports
US: Willow TV
