Australia vs India: Cricket Resurfaces After a Chaotic Year

Australia and India: An Epic Duel in Adelaide

After a year marked by the Covid-19 pandemic, Australia and India prepare to face each other on the same stage where they began their previous series in 2018: the Adelaide Oval. The iconic scoreboard and the Moreton Bay trees at the north end of the field offer a sense of continuity, an essential element in test cricket. This encounter will be India’s first day/night Test away from home, promising to be a memorable event for two of cricket’s most powerful nations, who have maintained almost constant contact for two decades. The series itself is an achievement, considering the circumstances. Although financial forces have driven India and Australia to contest 12 test series since 1999, participants and spectators experienced moments of uncertainty about the event’s realization due to the health situation. During the critical months of March, April and May, when the sports world stopped, the possibility of the series not taking place was real. Recently, the obstacles to organizing the event focused on the difficulties in ensuring its development, despite the goodwill existing between Cricket Australia and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The challenges for CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley and chairman Earl Eddings included finding a port of entry for the charter plane carrying the visiting team. Initial plans to land in Perth were moved to Adelaide, then to Brisbane, before Sydney, Canberra, the New South Wales government and the SCG Trust finally took the lead. Even after the Indians arrived, there was a chance that a Covid outbreak in Adelaide would disrupt the series. Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough has had to deal with rock concerts and football scheduling changes, but this year he prepared a pitch for a test match with a Christmas parade as a prelude.

“One thing we’ve learned with Covid is to be 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.”

Damian Hough

Hough highlighted that the sessions in the middle of the field are a competitive advantage for the Australian players who arrived before those who played for Australia A against the Indians on a different surface at the SCG, something that Paine did not hesitate to affirm.

Virat Kohli and Tim Paine

The Australian captain, Tim Paine, highlighted the importance of preparation in the center of the Adelaide Oval field, which he considered a key advantage for the team. Kohli’s adaptation, who did not participate in the warm-up match at the SCG, will be crucial to the result in Adelaide. This is accentuated by the fact that this is Kohli’s only test match in the series, before Ajinkya Rahane takes over the leadership for the remaining three matches. Australians, with players like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon, have been successful in dismissing Kohli early in the previous two series. Overcoming that phase, however, demonstrates that Kohli can be dangerous even for the most formidable 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 undoubtedly one of the best players, if not the best player in the world,” Paine said.

Tim Paine

Paine also highlighted the variety and different attacking options that Australia has to face Kohli. Instead of concerns about Covid protocols, border restrictions, and the financial impacts of the year, the team is focusing on the strategy and plans for the match. Paine, who values his test career more than most, does not feel bubble fatigue, even though considerations could shorten his time at the top of the game. Paine was positive and enjoying the experience in the bubble, highlighting that he sleeps better and feels fresher than at home. He concluded that life in the bubble could even prolong his career. After a difficult year, the intensity of the confrontation between Australia and India promises to be an unforgettable sporting event.