Australia vs India: Cricket Resurges in Adelaide After a Chaotic Year

Australia and India: An Epic Duel Amid the Pandemic

In a year marked by the Covid-19 crisis, Australia and India face each other on the same stage where they began their last encounter in 2018: the Adelaide Oval. The presence of the scoreboard and the iconic Moreton Bay trees provide a sense of essential continuity in cricket, serving as a 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 the most powerful cricket nations promises to be memorable, especially considering the challenges they faced to make the series happen. From March to May, the sports world was paralyzed, generating uncertainty about the future of the series. Despite the obstacles, both Cricket Australia (CA) and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) worked to secure the event. The path was not easy, with CA facing challenges with state associations, governments, and broadcasters. The main obstacles for CA’s interim CEO, Nick Hockley, and chairman Earl Eddings, were finding a port of entry for the visiting team’s charter plane. Initial plans changed from Perth to Adelaide, then to Brisbane and finally to Sydney, Canberra and the New South Wales government. Even after the arrival of the Indians, a Covid outbreak in Adelaide threatened to disrupt the series. Adelaide Oval curator Damian Hough prepared for a test match with a Christmas show instead of the Sheffield Shield games.

“What we have 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

Practice sessions in the center of the field are presented as a competitive advantage for the Australian team, something that Paine did not hesitate to highlight.

Title of the publication: It is looking increasingly hopeful that Virat Kohli and Tim Paine will go head-to-head later this year “We were fortunate enough to get here early in Adelaide,” Paine said. “We trained three nights in a row in the middle of the Adelaide Oval outfield, which I think will be a huge advantage for our team. It’s the hardest thing about the pink-ball Test; you normally get it once a year. Sometimes with a Shield game, this time without one. So you’re pretty much learning on the go, in real time, when you go out there.” Kohli’s adaptation, who did not play in the warm-up match at the SCG, will be crucial to the result in Adelaide. This will be Kohli’s only test match in the series, before Ajinkya Rahane takes over the leadership in the remaining three matches. With players like Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon, the Australians have succeeded in dismissing Kohli early in the last two series. Paine acknowledges Kohli’s ability to adapt and cause damage even to the strongest attacks. Tactical discussions and plans on the eve of the test series offer a respite from Covid protocols, border restrictions and the financial impacts of the year. Paine, who values his cricket career more than most, shows no signs of fatigue, enjoying the concentration in the bubble and hoping that this experience will allow him to play longer. The events of 2020 have ensured that this new chapter is as vivid as any sporting competition, while many around the world remain confined by the pandemic.