In less than 24 hours time India and Australia will lock horns in a historic Day-Night Test match at the iconic Adelaide Oval. This will be the first time these two teams will take each other on in a pink ball Test. Hence, going into the high-profile Border-Gavaskar series the excitement is sky high amongst the fans and of course, there will be plenty at stakes for both sides as the visitors will look to close the gap with table-toppers hosts in the ICC World Test Championship points table.
In the historic 2018-19 tour India started its red-ball campaign from Adelaide and went on to win the first Test and their maiden series on Australian soil. However, this time under floodlights (and with the presence of Steve Smith in the Aussie line-up) the job is expected to be much stiffer for the visitors. In their prior seven Day-Night Tests, Australia have not only just remained unbeaten, they dominated each and every opponent. In comparison, India have just played only one pink ball Test match in which they beat Bangladesh by an innings and 46 runs at the Eden Gardens last year.
Hence, in terms of pink ball experience India are far behind Australia and in order make up for this lost ground the No.1 ranked team in the world needs to show a fair bit character in this much-anticipated contest.
Team news
A day before the match, India have named their playing XI in which they have picked experienced wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha ahead of flamboyant Rishabh Pant, who played in their last Test match in Christchurch earlier this year. The team management has also kept its faith on out of form Prithvi Shaw ahead of uncapped Shubman Gill, who was impressive during the warm-up matches. Ravichandran Ashwin has come in the XI as a lone specialist spinner whereas Hanuma Vihari can chip in with some decent part-time off-spin.
Meanwhile, the major strength of this Indian team is its middle-order batting and the pace bowling unit. Though they will definitely miss the experience of Ishant Sharma but thankfully Umesh Yadav was seem in decent form during of practice games and will be a handy third seamer.
India XI: Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli (C), Ajinkya Rahane, Hanuma Vihari, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), R Ashwin, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
Nevertheless, in the Australian camp the injury of David Warner has created a mess in the top order. Now they, in probabilities, will open with a makeshift opener Mathew Wade, who was in good form during the white-ball matches. Meanwhile, much like India the hosts’ batting is also heavily dependent on their middle-order, which consists of the likes of Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith and Travis Head. Australia further likely to strengthen its batting by including Cameron Green in the mix. The 21-year old Western Australian batsman, who scored a century against the Indian attack in one of the practice games, is being considered to make his Test debut in Adelaide.
Thankfully for them, there is no injury concern in the bowling department and all three frontline pacers – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood – are all set to take field on Friday along with Nathan Lyon, the lone specialist spinner.
Australia’s probable XI: Joe Burns, Matthew Wade, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Tim Paine (C & WK), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon
Pitch and conditions
There is a fair bit of grass cover on the Adelaide Oval pitch, which is quite natural in Day-Night Tests. The extra layer of grass is kept to protect the shine of the pink ball. Batsmen, meanwhile will get value for their shots and the first session should be ideal for batting whereas bowlers can expect a lot of movement in the air and off the surface during the tricky twilight period. According to both camps, those 40-50 minutes of play on each day can be a game changer in this Test match.
The local met department expects a passing shower or two during this Test but rain won’t be a huge factor in the match.
Chatters from both camps:
“The pace of the red ball stays the same throughout the day. With the pink ball, the pace changes completely in those 40-50 minutes. Of course, the new ball moves a little for a while, but it gets easy to bat after that. Then the twilight period can be challenging because the pace of the ball increases. Both off the wicket and in the air,” says India’s vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane on the prospects of batting against the pink ball.
“Look, he’s (Wade) certainly an option to open the batting. No doubt about that. I think we’ve got a number of guys who are willing to open the batting. That says a lot about our group, not just Wadey. But Wadey in particular, we saw against New Zealand last year with the short-ball stuff, he’s willing to put his body on the line for his team. We know he’s as tough as nails and he’ll do a good job no matter where he bats. It’s been nice. Obviously, we have got a scenario where we could have a different opener and we’ve had a number of guys put their hand up to do it if that’s the best thing for the team. That’s a great thing for us as a side,” says Australian skipper Tim Paine about the chances of opening with Mathew Wade.
Match starts: 2.30 Local I 9.30 AM IST