Steve Smith voiced his concern about the second day-night Test match against India, stating that pink-ball brings its own set of challenges besides the Indian cricket team. India are currently leading the five-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-0, having won the first game in Perth by 295 runs. The second Test begins on Friday (December 6) at the Adelaide Oval.
Pink ball Tests has been a regular affair for the visiting teams in Australia in recent times. Notably, this will be the second time India will be facing Australia in a pink ball Test match. The last time both these teams met in a day-night Test Down Under was in 2020, when Australia won the game by eight wickets in Adelaide.
In Perth, both Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne, the two batting mainstays of the Australian team, were dismissed cheaply for low scores. The Australian knows what is expected of him in Adelaide.
“Pink ball, it can be challenging at different times of the day or night depending on where you bat and the situation of the game and the ball and all those kind of things,” Smith told Star Sports.
“So just being really switched on. The pink ball can be a little bit unpredictable at times. So yeah, just being really focussed,” he added. Not only Smith, but skipper Pat Cummins also spoke on the challenges in a day-night Test match.
“I think all the basics are the same really. You know sometimes the game goes on different paces as the ball gets older and softer but it’s Test cricket,” Cummins said.
India stand tall in day-night tour game
Meanwhile, a partly new-look Indian side stood tall against the pink ball in the tour game that was played over the weekend against Australian Prime Minister’s XI.
While some of the India players have been a part of the 2018 side that played Australia in Adelaide, there were a host of new faces in Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Reddy, Harshit Rana, Dhruv Jurel, who were playing in Australia for the first time.
After the first day was washes out in Canberra, the game was reduced to 46 overs per side on Day 2. Harshit Rana took 4/44 as India restricted PM XI to 240. In reply, India rode on a fifty from Shubman Gill and knocks from Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Reddy and Washington Sundar to romp home with six wickets in hand.
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