Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25: What tweaks India batters need to make to counter Pink ball challenge in Australia? India to play five Tests against Australia on their next tour.
The much-anticipated Test series of the Australian summer is all set to take centre stage once again. India faces the formidable hosts Australia in what should be a gruelling yet entertaining series down under.
India has had the upper hand, as Australia have yet to defeat them in a Border Gavaskar Trophy series since 2014-15. This includes the Men in Blue beating them in two successive Test series at home (2018/19 & 2020/21). Only time will tell if India can complete a hat-trick. But rest assured, the battle between the sides will be intense.
Australia: stalwarts of the pink ball
The visiting India team, likely to be led by Rohit Sharma, will face a different set of challenges from a rampant Australia Test team. One such is the “Day-Night Test match” played with the pink ball. There have been 22 completed day-night Tests in history, with Australia featuring in 12 of those and winning all of them. On the other hand, India has played in four D/N Tests, and their sole defeat came incidentally against Australia at Adelaide, the venue of the forthcoming pink ball Test.
To keep up with the tradition of D/N Tests on Australian soil, the second match of this marquee series will be played under the lights on December 6 at Adelaide.
With history favouring Australia in this type of Test match, India will have an uphill task at their hands to overcome the Aussie challenge. More importantly, the India batters will have to negate the obstacles posed by the pink ball, especially after they endured in the infamous Adelaide Test, roughly three years ago.
Before securing a historic series win, India succumbed to one of their worst-ever defeats, and it came in that D/N Test. They were bowled out for 36 in the 2nd innings, their lowest Test total, and thus have a first-hand experience of how the pink ball behaves, especially in the conditions down under.
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The difficulty in facing the pink ball
As mentioned, India had one of their worst batting performances ever in the D/N Test at Adelaide. A large part of their issues in that Test match was with how they fared against the pink ball, specifically on the dreadful morning where they lost wickets in heap.
A lot of people believe that the pink ball does a bit more under lights and during dusk, but trends suggest that playing the pink cherry, irrespective of conditions, is hard. We have seen in the Ahmedabad Test where the pink ball made a mockery out of the batters. They often find it hard to settle and adjust initially, and if the surface aids swing or spin, it becomes much more difficult to score runs and retain wickets for a long period.
India will play a pink ball warm-up game
No other side is better equipped to play in D/N Tests than Australia, and their track record says so. India has a 3-1 record concerning the pink ball, but this will be their biggest challenge yet. Hence, to give some match practice, the visiting India team will play a 2-day warm-up match with the pink ball in Canberra starting on November 30.
India would have already played a Test match by then, and this practice game would give a much-needed time to get acclimatised to the pink ball in Australian conditions.
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Adjustments for India batters
In the last Test match at Adelaide, where India's batters were routed for 36, their batters made the mistake of not adjusting to the bounce. With the surfaces in Australia tending to be faster than the rest of the world, playing on the front foot is not an easy task, and scoring was rather difficult. Many of the India batters were found wanting while trying to play off the front foot.
They must adapt to the pace of the wicket and the bounce associated with it. The pink ball does add a different dimension, given the movement and quality of pace attack that the Aussies possess. While there is no doubt that this series will be filled with thrilling moments that go back and forth, the Pink Ball Test will be a different spectacle to watch.
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