India’s refusal to think pink could well backfire

INDIA is facing the stark reality it may have made the first major bungle of the Australian tour by refusing to play a daynight Test in Adelaide.

Virat Kohli’s team was last night considering cancelling the first training session at Adelaide Oval after the bowlers were brutalised in a warm-up match that reinforced the reality of flat Australian pitches.

The Indian cricket board’s ability to manipulate and dictate scheduling in overseas countries is extraordinary, and it’s understood India pointblank refused to play the first Test of this summer at the traditional bastion of the bouncy Gabba or at the untried and unpredictable Perth Stadium, instead insisting on a more comfortable start in Adelaide.

But in knocking Australia back for a day-night Test in the City of Churches, they might have been too clever by half. India has never won down under in 71 years of touring and there is a growing feeling that the extra seam and swing on offer in day-night Test cricket might have been the point of difference that could have broken the longest drought in world cricket.

Only time will tell whether India has pulled the wrong rein by becoming the first international side to refuse Australia’s request to play a Test fixture with the pink ball under lights. However, the fact it took the tourists 151 overs to bowl out an anonymous Cricket Australia XI at the SCG was an early reminder of the toil that’s required in Australia when there is little ball movement.

Though it’s difficult to make judgments on a practice game where intensity is low, the fact only two members of a CA XI, almost completely devoid of first-class experience, failed to pass 30 in a total of 544, was a worrying sign for the strike power of the Indian attack.

Australia is yet to lose a day-night Test in four starts, but on at least three occasions the home side was put to the sword by quality swing bowling. New Zealand nearly pulled their pants down in the inaugural year and, last Ashes summer, Australia at one point looked as though it might lose the Test from an impossible position after a decision by Steve Smith not to enforce the follow-on opened the gate for England’s quicks.

India’s bowlers, led by Ishant Sharma and freakish youngster Jasprit Bumrah, have been particularly successful on seaming decks in England and South Africa where the tourists at stages threatened to cause an upset. Australia’s penchant for batting collapses in recent years whenever the ball is doing something would have given India’s bowlers huge encouragement.