Combination image of Indian cricketers Jasprit Bumrah and Yashasvi Jaiswal at a net session ahead of the second Test between India and Australia in Adelaide, on December 4, 2024
| Photo Credit: X/@BCCI

Blazing sunshine and dry heat prevailed for a large part of Thursday (December 5, 2024) before the clouds made a fleeting appearance over the Adelaide Oval. The air was still and through the public-address system, the national anthems of India and Australia were played as part of the preparations for the day-and-night second Test that will commence here on Friday (December 5, 2024) afternoon.

There is a forecast for the odd thunder-shower on the opening day, a disruption that may not have a major effect. India leads 1-0 in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, an advantage that Rohit Sharma’s men want to build upon at a venue which offers mixed signals from the past.

Sunil Gavaskar, Sandeep Patil, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Ajit Agarkar and Virat Kohli, have been heroes in Adelaide at varying points. Hundreds, wickets and triumphs in the 2003 and 2018 games add to the halo before the 36 registered in the 2020 pink-ball Test offers a grim reality check.

In the lead-up to the latest contest, there have been exhaustive discussions about how the pink ball would move under lights and the tricky phase of dealing with twilight. India has won three of its four day-and-night Tests and all those triumphs were scripted in home conditions. Having lost the lone overseas encounter here in 2020, the visitors get a chance to make amends.

It helps that a full-strength playing eleven is on the cards with Rohit and Shubman Gill slotting themselves back. The former also put to rest all the speculation over his batting position by clearly stating that K.L. Rahul will open along with Yashasvi Jaiswal. The Indian captain said that the duo played well atop the order at Perth and in the team’s interest it is better he himself plays in the middle order.

Whether India steps in without R. Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja, like it did at Perth, remains to be seen. Kohli’s unbeaten 100 in the first Test, the manner in which Jasprit Bumrah has occupied head-space among all Aussie batters, and the performance of the two debutants Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar, are all handy psychological brownie points.

Meanwhile, Australia at home tends to be dominant even if India has punctured this perception through series victories over the previous two tours. Pat Cummins and his men are keen to win and the Australian skipper said: “We had a long break after the first Test and now this second Test seems like a first Test for us.”

The 295-run loss at Perth did amplify the external critical voices Down Under, but the host would rather not read too much into these inputs. The worries, though, remain as middle-order bulwarks Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne are searching for runs.

Among the bowlers, Scott Boland, who will replace injured Josh Hazlewood, has the requisite skills as Australia continues to have a potent seam attack while off-spinner Nathan Lyon would chip in too. With the River Torrens flowing nearby, both rivals would hope to cause some ripples at this lovely ground.

The teams (from).

India: Rohit Sharma (captain), Jasprit Bumrah (vice-captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, K.L. Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), R. Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Washington Sundar, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna and Harshit Rana.

Australia: Pat Cummins (captain), Usman Khwaja, Travis Head, Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Josh Inglis (wicket-keeper), Alex Carey (wicket-keeper), Mitchell Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon, Beau Webster, Sean Abbott and Brendan Dogget.

Match officials: Umpires: Richard Illingworth and Chris Gaffaney; Third umpire: Richard Kettleborough; Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle.

Match starts at 9.30 a.m. IST.

India’s K.L. Rahul has made peace with the range of positions he has been asked to bat in. File picture
| Photo Credit: AP

Australia is the land where it all began for K.L. Rahul. Back in the December of 2014, the Karnataka star made his Test debut at Melbourne and has had quite the ride over the last decade. Be it strong limbs and fractured bones or hundreds and noughts, Rahul has seen them all.

With vital runs (26 and 77) at Perth, the batter is now set for the second Test in Adelaide from Friday (December 6, 2024). On Wednesday (December 4, 2024) afternoon, Rahul was all about the measured answer while addressing the media at the Adelaide Oval’s basement hall.

However, the million-dollar question about whether he will open was dealt with a cryptic response: “I have been told (about where I will bat), but I have also been told not to share it. You will have to wait for day one (of the Test) or maybe when the captain (Rohit Sharma) comes tomorrow (Thursday).”

Evolving batting positions, ranging from opening to the number six slot, have shadowed Rahul’s decade-long International career. He has made his peace with it: “I just want to be in the playing XI and bat for the team. Early on, when I was asked to bat in different places, it was a challenge mentally. But now that I have played in ODIs and in Test cricket, and all over the place, it has given me an idea as to how I need to manage my innings, especially the start. The first 30-40 balls matter, if I can manage that, then everything else seems like regular batting.”

At Perth, Rahul played the calm mentor to centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second innings. Their 201-run alliance was one of the reasons for India’s triumph. There was also a trickle-down theory at work as Rahul passed on the tips he imbibed from Murali Vijay.

“I shared whatever I have learnt from playing in Australia and facing the new ball. I saw a little bit of myself (in Jaiswal) like when I was here 10 years ago, opening the batting for the first time. A lot of doubts, a lot of nerves. A lot happens in your head. The only thing you can do is slow things, take a few deep breaths and focus on one thing. And that’s what was passed on to me by my then-opening partner Murali Vijay. So I just passed that on to Jaiswal,” Rahul said.

The imminent fixture at Adelaide will also pit Rahul against the pink ball: “This will be my first pink-ball Test. It is a bit different to the red ball in terms of how well you see and pick the ball from the bowler’s hand. That’s been a challenge. Hopefully by the time the game starts, we will have had enough practice sessions.”

The batter hopes that his latest sojourn in Australia would help him chart a fresh path. “Planning to get a tattoo after the Sydney Test,” he said, and it is another ritual he indulges in while being Down Under.