Indian cricket team during the second warm-up game against Australia A at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Ben McDermott and Jack Wildermuth's gritty centuries on the final day of the second warm-up tie under the lights at the Sydney Cricket Ground denied Team India a victory despite successfully reducing the home team to 25 for three. But the visitors will head to Adelaide with a lot of positives gained from the three-day practice tie having ticked a few too many boxes amid a few happy headaches. We take a look at some of the takeaways for the Indian team ahead of their first Test, at the Adelaide, which will also be a pink ball game.
Rishabh Pant or Wriddhiman Saha?
Saha was picked ahead of Pant in the opening tie last week as the latter woke up with a sore neck. But the veteran made most of the opportunity to carve out an innings-reviving half-century that helped India escape with a draw. The valiant knock, off 100 deliveries laced with seven boundaries, which included a 70-run stand with the tailenders, showed that Saha too is capable enough to bat on overseas conditions. Pant was picked in the second game and he bounced back from an 11-ball five in the first innings to a T20-style century, which included a 22-run final over on day 2 before India declared, hence pushing his case for inclusion in the playing XI of the opener. Pant was also handed the gloves in that pink-ball tie although it was Saha who stole the limelight with a spectacular catch at deep mid-wicket while running backward. The performances by the two have only added to the management's happy headache.
Shubman Gill ahead of Prithvi Shaw as second opener?
Shaw's problem against the nip-backer persisted as he managed to score 62 runs in four innings where he opened which included a duck and a blazing 40-run knock against the pink ball. Gill opened in the first tie scoring a duck and then 29 before bouncing back with scores of 43 and 65 where he showed composure, technique and played more in-control shots. His upright stance and ability to get his body behind the line of the ball stood out in both his knocks against the shiny pink, hence putting him ahead in the race to the second opener's spot unless the team has plans to name him as the No.4 batsman in Kohli's absence from the last three Tests. If he gets the nod, he will become the third Indian opener to make his Test debut Down Under after Mayank Agarwal in 2018 and Amir Elahi in 1947.
India's mainstay bowlers and batsmen have shown form
Although they struggled against the new pink ball, falling like nine pins on Friday to add just 111 runs for the loss of seven wickets by the 31st over before an unlikely half-century from Jasprit Bumrah powered them to 194, India's batters wrapped up their pink-ball preparations with contrasting tons from Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant while Mayank Agarwal and Gill scored their respective fifties. The positive from India's batting in the second innings of the pink-ball tie was that majority of the innings was played under the lights when it is the most difficult to play in the day-night format, albeit against the old ball.
Earlier in the same match, Shami and Bumrah, who played just three limited-overs games in Australia and missed the opening warm-up Test, hit the straps in their combined 5 for 62 on Friday. Both were accurate with their lengths and completely reaped the reward of the ball's tendency to show lateral movement under the lights with Shami even bowling 11 overs in his spell, albeit broken by a rain delay and tea break.
About the pink ball
For the bowler, the first 25-30 overs stand crucial, the period where they can take maximum wickets as possible. Against the old pink, the bowlers can expect little and that is when the batters can run away with boundaries to stack up big runs. According to ESPNCricinfo, the average runs per wicket in day-night Tests in Australia rises from 27.25 in the first 30 overs to 30.4 in the next 50 overs. Aussie conditions support only a fractional change in run-scoring rate for day Test matches. Another time for the bowlers to go merry is under the lights, the period when India had lost eight wickets for just 51 runs in the first innings.
The pink ball might also force India to head with an all-pace attack. The pacers averaged 30.25 in the warm-up game with 25 wickets while the spinners averaged 116.5 for two wickets. Overall in Australia, in day-night matches, spinners average 49.19 with a strike rate of 88.5 while pacers average 24.71 with a strike rate of 50.3.
