AUS vs IND, 1st Test: It is not easy to pick up the pink ball, says Tim Paine
Cricket | December 18, 2020 19:36 ISTPaine top-scored with an unbeaten 73 before his team was bowled out for 191 on the second day of the match at the Adelaide Oval.
Paine top-scored with an unbeaten 73 before his team was bowled out for 191 on the second day of the match at the Adelaide Oval.
Ashwin finished with 4 for 55, the best figures for any visiting spinner in a day-night Test in Australia and his personal best Down Under surpassing his 4/105 at the SCG in 2015.
Paine says 21-year-old allrounder Cameron Green is medically fit to make his test debut in the day-night fixture, but won’t divulge whether struggling opener Joe Burns will play.
A day/night Test match has its own little grammar where batsmen are expected to attack in the first session while bowlers are at their peak once the sun sets, allowing the pink kookaburra to pick its pace up.
India, barring last week's first-class game, only made their debut in this format of Test cricket in November 2019 at home, comfortably beating Bangladesh, but now have a far bigger challenge to overcome when they face Tim Paine's men on Thursday.
Pucovski, who was primed to open in the opening Test in Adelaide starting on Thursday, was ruled out after suffering a concussion in the first warm-up game between Australia A and India A.
With New Zealand whitewashing West Indies at home with a win on Monday, the Black Caps are emerging as a threat for Australia and India in the race to the Lord's final for the inaugural World Test Championship trophy.
The Aussies, who had initially named David Warner, Will Pucovski and Joe Burns as openers for the first Test, suffered twin blows with Warner getting injured and Pucovski getting a blow on his head.
After having warmed up for 10 minutes with his teammates by doing a few stretching exercises and running drills at the Adelaide Oval, Smith skipped the routine football session and headed straight to the dressing room
Days before the four-match series begins in Adelaide on December 17, Australia are grappling with a spate of injuries to top players such as David Warner.
Smith will be a key member of the Australian team in the much-anticipated four-match series beginning with the pink-ball day/night match in Adelaide from December 17.
Labuschagne added that batting during the day, although easier, presents its own challenges for the batsmen as it becomes tougher to spot the ball in sunlight than at night.
The day-night Test begins on December 17 and Australia are grappling with injury issues ahead of the match.
The 27-year-old Swepson, who is part of the Test squad, should have been playing the three-day tour game between India A and Australia A.
Pucovski was hit on the helmet by a delivery from India 'A' pacer Kartik Tyagi in the 13th over of the second innings of Australia 'A'.
Wade took over the captaincy reins for the second T20 against India here on Sunday after Aaron Finch picked up an injury in the opening game in Canberra.
Unlike the series opener in Canberra where he picked up the Man of the Match trophy with his 3 for 25 with seven dot balls, Chahal was rather expensive in his four-over spell in Sydney conceding 51 runs
Having won two white-ball games in Canberra, the Indians under Virat Kohli will hope that the next two matches at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) pan out better for them.
While Jadeja smashed an unbeaten 44 off 23 balls to propel India to 161 for 7, his head injury turned out to be a blessing in disguise with India unleashing Chahal (3/25 in 4 overs) on an Australian side caught completely off-guard.
India, with their win at the Manuka Oval, now stand fourth in the points table with 10 points from three games. They had earlier lost in Sydney twice in this series against the Aussies.
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