36 - The number is enough to haunt the Indian cricket fans. For the unversed, 36 is India's lowest total ever in Test cricket and that came in the day-night Test against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in December 2020. Four years later, the team returns to the same venue to face the same set of bowlers. But then, one thing has changed this time. India are 1-0 up in the series, and eight players from the team that featured in the playing XI are not even in the squad this time.
Virat Kohli and Jasprit Bumrah are the only common players from the team who took the field in that fateful innings. They are certain to be in the playing XI in the upcoming Test as well but are too big the players to carry the baggage of 36 all-out even after four years. Moreover, the eight other players are either youngsters or experienced enough and most importantly, do not carry that baggage. One can argue that these players have no experience of playing with the pink ball but then, nobody had it nine years ago in November 2015 either when the first ever day-night Test match took place.
The Indian players are certainly confident going into the pink-ball Test in Adelaide that commences on December 6 thanks to the 295-run win in Perth. The pressure, for a change, will be on Australia which is a rare thing especially while playing Down Under. This is India's fourth day-night Test after playing the first in November 2019 while the Aussie have turned up in 12 such matches so far, all at home.
India have played three day-night Tests at home and won all of them. In the only Test with the pink ball which they played away from home, the team was folded for 36 runs in the second innings handing the advantage to Australia and losing by nine wickets. Meanwhile, Australia had a flawless record in pink-ball Tests until West Indies humbled them at the Gabba thanks to a stunning spell from Shamar Joseph earlier this year in January.
Nevertheless, the Aussies are still the best team when it comes to playing Test cricket under the lights having won 11 out of 12 matches so far.
Pink Ball - A HUGE test even for the best of batters
Day-Night Test match, brings with it, a different set of challenges for the batters. The conditions are tailor-made for the bowlers with the pitch having a lot of grass on it. Now, why is it that the curators prefer to keep the surface green in Tests played with the pink ball? Well, this is done to retain the lacquer on the ball and this plays into the hands of the bowlers who enjoy fruitful conditions.
For the same reason, all 22 pink-ball Tests so far have yielded results with only five of them going into the fifth day. In fact, two pink-ball Test matches also ended within two days showcasing tougher conditions for the batters.
However, some of them have braved such conditions to notch up big scores. Virat Kohli is the only centurion for India under the lights in the longest format while for Australia, four of their current batters - Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne - have crossed the 100-run mark at least once. Moreover, Labuschagne is the highest run-scorer in day-night Tests amassing 894 runs at an average of 63.85 with four hundreds and three fifties.
In an era where the technique of the batters has declined significantly in red-ball cricket, the pink ball has just piled the agony on them with a host of challenges.
Pacers or Spinners? Who dominates day-night Test matches?
Generally, the notion around pink-ball Tests is that the fast bowlers dominate the proceedings. Overall numbers also suggest that the fast bowlers do have a say in day-night Test matches as Mitchell Starc is leading the way with 66 wickets so far. Among the top six wicket-takers, five are fast bowlers with the only other spinner being Nathan Lyon who is second highest with 43 scalps to his name.
For India, it is Ravi Ashwin with 18 wickets in seven innings with the pink ball, however, a lot of it had to do with the pitch on offer and not the conditions. Even in the day-night Test matches played in India, the fast bowlers dominated the final session of the day under the lights.
Which Indian players are playing with the pink ball for the first time?
Coming back to the upcoming Test match at the Adelaide Oval, will India be able to end Australia's dominance in pink-ball Tests? They lost to the West Indies in Brisbane 11 months ago and they have won all day-night Test matches played in Adelaide so far, the very reason why the Test match was allocated back to the venue for the home summer.
One thing is very clear, 36 all-out is not going to happen every time. It was one fateful session where all the batters kept edging the ball and the procession never stopped. Australia's wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey admitted that they aren't expecting India to fold for a low score yet again.
"There have been amazing days in cricketing history, but we won't go out there expecting to do it again. We have a process and plan, and we try to execute it regardless of what happens. I wasn't here for the Test match, but I missed that, it happened too quickly," he told the reporters in the lead up to the Test match.
This time around, India are more confident having played a day-night Test in Australia before. Five of their players in the starting XI - Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Reddy, KL Rahul, Mohammed Siraj and Harshit Rana - have not played with the pink ball before. But all of them endured a fruitful outing in Perth and will be confident stepping into the unknown of day-night Test only on the back of a one-day warm-up game they played against Prime Minister's XI.
This Indian team has the capability to thwart Australia and their dominance with the pink ball in Adelaide. Having a 1-0 lead in the series also gives them an added boost. There is no doubt that the battered Australian team will come hard at the visitors and it is going to be - PEAK CINEMA - under the lights with the batters from both sides being certain to get tested to the hilt.
