Australia vs India: Cricket Clash in Adelaide After Chaotic Year

Australia and India: Epic Duel at Adelaide Oval Despite the Pandemic

After a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia and India face each other in the same scenario where they began their previous series in 2018: the majestic Adelaide Oval. The view of the scoreboard and the Moreton Bay trees at the north end of the field evoke the intrinsic continuity of Test cricket, creating a striking backdrop for the teams led by Tim Paine and Virat Kohli in India’s first day/night Test away from home. This encounter between two of the most powerful cricket nations promises to be even more special than any other match in the last 20 years, a period in which they have maintained almost constant contact. The series itself is already an achievement. While financial forces have driven India and Australia to contest 12 test series since 1999, a number similar to the Ashes series that Australia has played against England in the same period, participants and spectators experienced moments of uncertainty about the realization of the series this year. In the difficult months of March, April and May, when the world of sport was paralyzed, the possibility that the series would not take place was palpable. Recently, the obstacles to organizing the series were significant, despite the goodwill between Cricket Australia and the BCCI. Cricket Australia thanked that the administrators and players of India never raised major issues about the tour, especially considering the challenges their leaders faced with state associations, state governments, and rights broadcasters. The challenges for CA’s interim CEO Nick Hockley and chairman Earl Eddings centered on finding an entry point for the charter plane carrying the visiting team. Initial plans to land in Perth were modified, going through Adelaide and Brisbane, before Sydney, Canberra, the New South Wales government and the SCG Trust were finally chosen. Tensions reached their peak during a long and, ultimately, unsuccessful negotiation with the Queensland government. Even after the arrival of the Indians, there was a possibility that a Covid outbreak in Adelaide would alter the series. For a long time, Adelaide Oval was scheduled to host at least one and possibly two test matches, given the prolonged quarantine in Melbourne that overshadowed Boxing Day until October. However, the outbreak that forced a brief lockdown in South Australia caused alternatives to be considered, such as starting the test series with a day/night Test at the MCG and then playing a more traditional match from December 26. Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough, who has managed rock concerts and football scheduling changes, has prepared a pitch for a test match with a Christmas display instead of the Sheffield Shield matches as preparation.

“One thing we’ve learned with Covid is to live more in the present,” Hough said. “We like to plan months in advance. We still had plans, but we had to live in the moment a little more,” he added. “A U2 concert last year was a much bigger challenge than what we’re going through this year. I never thought I’d see a Christmas parade at the Adelaide Oval, so it’s a unique year.”

Damian Hough

“We are fortunate to be able to give Australia training in the center of the court on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that was our only preparation, and it seemed to go very well, the comments were positive. We have the recipe that seems to work… we are simply sticking to the game plan.”

The sessions in the center of the court represent an invaluable competitive advantage for the members of the Australian team who arrived before those who played for Australia A against the Indians on a different surface at the SCG, something Paine affirmed without hesitation.

It is increasingly hopeful that Virat Kohli and Tim Paine will face each other later this year.Paine commented: “We’ve been very lucky to get to Adelaide early. We trained three nights in a row in the middle of the pitch at Adelaide Oval, which I think will be a big advantage for our team. It’s the most difficult thing about the pink ball Test; you usually have it once a year. Sometimes with a Shield match, this time without one. So you’re learning on the go, in real time, when you go out on the field.” “Trying to adapt to conditions that are so strange to us, with the lights on and a pink ball. So it’s strange. But we’ve managed to have three nights in the middle of the pitch at the Adelaide Oval, which has been fantastic for our group – batsmen and bowlers – to get a feel for what it’s like again. Reviving your memory of last year – it’s going to be a big advantage for us tomorrow.” Kohli’s adaptation, who didn’t even play in the warm-up match at the SCG, will be as crucial as any other factor for the result in Adelaide. It will also be increased by the fact that this is Kohli’s only test match for the series, making it an even more unique event before Ajinkya Rahane takes over the captaincy for the remaining three matches. With artillery like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon, the Australians have had considerable success in dismissing Kohli early in each of the previous two series. However, overcoming that phase has shown that Kohli can damage even the most prestigious attack. “Everyone has big plans to get the best players out, don’t they? But that’s why they’re the best, they can adapt, they can change with what you’re doing, and Virat is certainly one of the best players, if not the best player in the world,” Paine said. “There’s going to be a moment in this, well, there’s really only one Test, so hopefully not, but when you play against players as good as Virat, sometimes they get away from you, that’s just the game.” “But we certainly have implemented plans that have worked well against him in the past; hopefully they work early enough this week, but if not, yes, we have a couple of different plans. The good thing about our attack is that they are all different, we also have Nathan Lyon and now you add Greeny, we have some different angles, some different speeds and obviously Nathan’s spin, as well as Marnus, so we have a lot of different options to throw at him if he were to get in and settle.” It’s refreshing that discussions and tactical plans are focused on the eve of a test series, rather than on Covid protocols, border restrictions and the financial impacts of the year to date. Paine, who cherishes his test career more than most after being a couple of phone calls away from retiring from cricket altogether in 2017, had no idea of “bubble fatigue” at this point, when asked if such considerations might shorten what remains of his time at the top of the game. “Absolutely not. I love it, to be honest,” Paine said. “I don’t think this hub has been as strict as perhaps the IPL or England’s. I sleep very well at night; my children are at home, which is good in a way, but I certainly miss them. But I sleep better here and feel fresher here than at home, so life in the hub might make me play longer, if anything.” You don’t know what you have until you lose it. If in recent years there has been a touch of fatigue over the frequency of encounters between India and Australia, the events of 2020 have ensured that this latest chapter will be as vivid as any sporting competition can be when so many around the world remain confined by a pandemic.