Australia vs India: Cricket Match in Adelaide, Hope After a Difficult Year

Australia and India: A Classic in Times of Pandemic

At the end of a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia and India prepare to face each other on the same stage where they began their last encounter in 2018: the Adelaide Oval. The presence of the old scoreboard and the imposing Moreton Bay trees at the north end of the field offer a sense of essential continuity in test cricket, creating a memorable backdrop for the teams led by Tim Paine and Virat Kohli in the first day/night Test for India away from home.

This encounter between two of cricket’s most powerful nations promises to be special, surpassing the occasions on which they have crossed paths since establishing almost constant contact two decades ago. The mere realization of the series is an achievement in itself.

Despite the significant financial forces that have driven India and Australia to contest no less than 12 test series since 1999, a number similar to the Ashes series that Australia has played against England in the same period, all participants and spectators have experienced moments of uncertainty about the possibility of the series taking place.

During the difficult months of March, April and May, when the sports world almost completely stopped, the possibility of the series not taking place was a real concern. More recently, the obstacles to organizing the series focused on overcoming the difficulties, despite the good will existing between Cricket Australia and the BCCI to make the event happen. In a year in which its leaders have faced challenges with state associations, state governments and rights broadcasters, CA was grateful that India’s administrators and players did not raise major issues in relation to the tour. The hurdles for CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley and chairman Earl Eddings primarily related to finding a point of entry for the charter plane carrying the touring team. Initial plans, which included landing in Perth, were moved to Adelaide and then Brisbane, before ultimately Sydney, Canberra, the New South Wales government and the SCG Trust took the lead. Anxiety levels reached their peak during an extensive 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 disrupt the series. For a long time, the Adelaide Oval was due to host at least one and possibly two test matches, given the prolonged quarantine Melbourne faced for most of the year, which created uncertainty about Boxing Day until October. However, the outbreak that forced a brief and strict quarantine in South Australia caused alternatives to be considered, such as starting the test series with a day/night match at the MCG and then continuing with a more traditional game from December 26. All these possibilities were present in the mind of Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough, who has dealt with rock concerts and changes in football match schedules in the past, but this year he prepared a test pitch with a Christmas parade instead of the Sheffield Shield games as a prelude.

“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 a little more in the moment.”

Damian Hough

Hough also mentioned: “[A U2 concert last year] was a much bigger challenge than what we are going through this year. I never thought I would see a Christmas parade at the Adelaide Oval, so it’s a unique year.” “We are fortunate to be able to give Australia training in the center court on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, that was our only preparation, and it seemed to go very well, the response was positive. We have the recipe that seems to work… we just stick to the game plan.” More than anything else, those sessions in the center of the court are shaping up as 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 did not hesitate to affirm.

Paine highlighted the advantage of arriving early in Adelaide: “We trained three nights in a row in the center of the Adelaide Oval pitch, which I think will be a great advantage for our team. It’s the most difficult thing about the Test with the pink ball; 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 managed to have three nights in the center of the Adelaide Oval pitch, which has been fantastic for our group, batsmen and bowlers, to get an idea of what it’s like again. It revives your memory of last year, it’s going to be a big advantage for us tomorrow.” Kohli’s adjustment, who didn’t even play in the warm-up match at the SCG, will be as crucial as any other factor in the result in Adelaide. This will be intensified, too, 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 players like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon, the Australians have had considerable success in getting Kohli out early in each of the previous two series. However, overcoming that phase has shown that Kohli can damage even the most praised 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.

Tim Paine

“There’s going to be a moment in this, well, there’s only actually one Test, so hopefully not, but when you’re playing against players as good as Virat, sometimes they get away from you, that’s just the game. But we certainly have plans in place that have worked well against him in the past; hopefully, they work early enough this week, but if not, yeah, we’ve got a couple of different plans. The good thing about our attack is that everyone’s different, we’ve also got Nathan Lyon and now you add Greeny, we’ve got some different angles, some different speeds and obviously Nathan’s spin as well as Marnus’, so we’ve got a lot of different options to bowl at him if he gets in and gets set.”

There’s something refreshing about the discussions and tactical plans on the eve of a test series, rather than the Covid protocols, border restrictions and financial impacts of the year to date. Paine, who cherishes his test career more than most after being a phone call or two away from retiring from cricket altogether in 2017, had no notion 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 maybe the IPL or the one in England. I’m sleeping really well at night; my kids 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 could actually make me play longer in any case.”

Tim Paine

If there has ever been a touch of fatigue from the frequency of encounters between India and Australia, the events of 2020 have ensured that this latest chapter is as vivid as any sporting contest can be when so many around the world remain confined by a pandemic.