 "Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Here's what the Adelaide Oval pitch looks like days before start of 2nd Test")
India will be aiming to bury the ghosts of Adelaide 2020 when they face Australia in the second of five Tests starting Friday. It was at the Adelaide Oval in December four years ago where the Virat Kohli-led Indian team had been bowled out for 36 , their lowest score in any format, in the pink-ball Test that got the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy underway.
While that match, which ended in an eight-wicket victory for the Aussies, was the first of a four-match series, the upcoming match will be taking place under vastly different circumstances. India, after all, are 1-0 up in the five-match series after thrashing Pat Cummins and Co by 295 runs in the opening Test in Perth.
One of the key talking points ahead of the second Test in Adelaide, where India had emerged victorious in 2018 as well as in 2003, has been the pitch and whether it will be as spicy as Perth’s Optus Stadium was in the first two days of the opening Test, or more.
According to RevSportz, the pitch appeared lush green as curator Damian Hough began working on the wicket that will be used for the second Test starting later this week. The ground staff at the Adelaide Oval also made use of a heavy roller which they operated sideways and horizontally as well as diagonally, the report added.
Adelaide Oval Pitch 👀 pic.twitter.com/MvjuQx0Pik
— Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) December 2, 2024
Impact Shorts
More ShortsHough had been in the headlines earlier this year as he was in charge of overseeing the wicket at New York's Nassau County International Stadium for the T20 World Cup, which had a drop-in pitch with soil from Adelaide that was shipped across the Pacific Ocean to the United States.
Day-night Tests are largely low-scoring affairs due to the pink ball’s exaggerated movement especially under lights, which creates all sorts of difficulties for batters. What will add to the challenge for the Indian team is the fact that Australia are yet to lose a pink-ball game.
The day-night game in 2020 was quite the low-scoring affair, not just because of India’s record low score but due to the fact that neither team was able to cross 250 in their first innings. India had been bowled out for 244 after opting to bat, but were able to collect a handy lead after restricting the Tim Paine-led hosts to 191, though that lead would ultimately be of little use.
India had scored 250 at this venue in the opening Test in 2018, collecting a 15-run lead thereafter. However, they were able to post 307 in the second innings thanks to fifties from Cheteshwar Pujara (71) and Ajinkya Rahane (70). The trio of Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami and Ravichandran Ashwin would collect three wickets each as India bowled Australia out for 291 to collect a 31-run victory.
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