Australia’s Nathan Lyon is seen during the third day of the second Test against India in Adelaide.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

Past the Don Bradman statue frozen in an evocative drive, the Adelaide Oval remains a hallowed territory. Inside the ground, there is a surface layered with history and perhaps fortified with the sweat of a quintessential Aussie hero.

Nathan Lyon, champion spinner, naughty raconteur, knew the pitch in a rather intimate way, many years ago. This was back in 2010, when he was part of the ground-staff here, and it is no surprise that the present head curator, Damian Hough, is all warmth and wonder about all things Lyon.

“He was the first employee I employed. He came from the Manuka Oval in Canberra. Had a bit of a chat with him, told him what the role was and soon he was playing for South Australia, Australia A, and the next minute he is playing for Australia in Sri Lanka,” Damian recalled.

Tending to the pitch and outfield while also finding time to sneak in a club game and some practice sessions, Lyon must have had his hands full. “He would work hard but in the end he had to choose between cricket and being a groundsman. Once Darren Berry found him, there was no turning back. Nathan was a good curator, he was just good energy, always a team member, quite cheeky, so good banter, good humour,” Damian said.

Did the cricket ever affect his duties allied with the surface? Damian was quick to react: “He was so professional. I knew he played cricket but I didn’t know how good he was. He looked after the ground on his own. Worked really hard. In fact, he cut the outfield during the 2010 Ashes Test. Back then he used to go to the Karen Rolton Oval, bowl in the nets.”

Soon the transition to full-time playing happened and Damian recalled: “One day he came back and said ‘sorry I have been picked for the first squad for the South Australian team’. His parents are lovely countryside people and they brought him up well.”

Does knowing the pitch help Lyon in anyway? Damian had his views: “I am not sure. He has interest in surfaces, don’t know if it helps you in the way you play the game. But he has also been out of this for long.”

Lyon’s kinship with surfaces may have changed but his friendship with Damian is set in stone: “We are pretty close, we don’t see each other a lot but we slip in a message from time to time. He has seen my kids grow up. We also have this professional equation between a curator and a player. His is an all-time great story and he has stayed really humble and down to earth.”

Indian squad celebrate the victory during Day 4 of the first Test match against Australia, at Perth Stadium, in Perth on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI

The Adelaide debacle of 2020 is history now but it should be at the back of players’ minds when they take the field in the day/night Test against Australia, reckons Ravi Shastri, who was India’s coach in that series.

India, under Virat Kohli, were shot out for their lowest-ever Test total of 36 in the second innings of the Adelaide Test that Australia won by eight wickets.

Bruised and battered, and with hardly anyone giving them a revival chance, India staged a remarkable comeback to win the four-Test series 2-1 to clinch the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

Also Read: Data | Despite 36 all out, Adelaide Test not India’s worst match by a long shot

“I don’t think it (Adelaide drubbing) will play any role but it should be at the back of their mind because you know things happen very quickly with a pink ball,” Shastri, who was the coach of the India team during the series, told The ICC Review.

A 1-0 lead in pocket, India will clash with the hosts in the second Test, starting Friday.

“You realise that in a session of play, if things don’t go your way and the bowling is good, things can happen rapidly.” Shastri added that India’s defeat in the match was a freak thing and that he had not seen so many nicks flying to the fielders in his four decades of cricket.

“What we did after that 36 was — like I said at that time — that I’d never seen, and I said it in the dressing room, I’d never seen so much of playing and nicking as opposed to playing and missing.

“And I’d watched cricket for about 40 years. And to be honest, that was a session where hardly any player played and missed. If he did anything, he got a nick. So it was not beating the bat. You know, the bowlers (being) unlucky… it was just the batsmen being unlucky on that day.”

The legendary all-rounder added that the 1-0 lead in the ongoing series should act as a catalyst for India to further tighten their grip on the hosts, who he felt were under pressure.

“Now the fact that they are one-up, should put them in a really great frame of mind going ahead in this Test match because I think it’s a massive opportunity for India to tighten the screws further. The pressure will be on Australia.”

“In my mind, it was very clear you can’t do worse than that (Adelaide). You’ll have a day when the luck is in your favour and you can bounce back. And that’s exactly what happened.

“Sometimes you don’t over-think when something as drastic as that happens. You don’t want a knee-jerk reaction taking place where you just lose the plot. Sometimes calmness in situations like that produce the best results.”

India went on to level the series in Melbourne and followed it up with a fighting draw in Sydney. The injury-ravaged visitors, under Ajinkya Rahane, then pulled off a sensational victory in Brisbane to secure a historic series win.

India’s K.L. Rahul has made peace with the range of positions he has been asked to bat in. File picture
| Photo Credit: AP

Australia is the land where it all began for K.L. Rahul. Back in the December of 2014, the Karnataka star made his Test debut at Melbourne and has had quite the ride over the last decade. Be it strong limbs and fractured bones or hundreds and noughts, Rahul has seen them all.

With vital runs (26 and 77) at Perth, the batter is now set for the second Test in Adelaide from Friday (December 6, 2024). On Wednesday (December 4, 2024) afternoon, Rahul was all about the measured answer while addressing the media at the Adelaide Oval’s basement hall.

However, the million-dollar question about whether he will open was dealt with a cryptic response: “I have been told (about where I will bat), but I have also been told not to share it. You will have to wait for day one (of the Test) or maybe when the captain (Rohit Sharma) comes tomorrow (Thursday).”

Evolving batting positions, ranging from opening to the number six slot, have shadowed Rahul’s decade-long International career. He has made his peace with it: “I just want to be in the playing XI and bat for the team. Early on, when I was asked to bat in different places, it was a challenge mentally. But now that I have played in ODIs and in Test cricket, and all over the place, it has given me an idea as to how I need to manage my innings, especially the start. The first 30-40 balls matter, if I can manage that, then everything else seems like regular batting.”

At Perth, Rahul played the calm mentor to centurion Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second innings. Their 201-run alliance was one of the reasons for India’s triumph. There was also a trickle-down theory at work as Rahul passed on the tips he imbibed from Murali Vijay.

“I shared whatever I have learnt from playing in Australia and facing the new ball. I saw a little bit of myself (in Jaiswal) like when I was here 10 years ago, opening the batting for the first time. A lot of doubts, a lot of nerves. A lot happens in your head. The only thing you can do is slow things, take a few deep breaths and focus on one thing. And that’s what was passed on to me by my then-opening partner Murali Vijay. So I just passed that on to Jaiswal,” Rahul said.

The imminent fixture at Adelaide will also pit Rahul against the pink ball: “This will be my first pink-ball Test. It is a bit different to the red ball in terms of how well you see and pick the ball from the bowler’s hand. That’s been a challenge. Hopefully by the time the game starts, we will have had enough practice sessions.”

The batter hopes that his latest sojourn in Australia would help him chart a fresh path. “Planning to get a tattoo after the Sydney Test,” he said, and it is another ritual he indulges in while being Down Under.

Jasprit Bumrahcelebrates taking the wicket of Alex Carey during the first Test match in the series between Australia and India at Perth Stadium on November 23, 2024
| Photo Credit: Getty Images

The Jasprit Bumrah threat, the alleged batter-bowler divide in the Australian camp and the number 36, seem to be the general themes during press conferences in the lead-up to the second Test in Adelaide from Friday (December 6, 2024). And it was the turn of Alex Carey to square up and answer these queries when he met the media at the Adelaide Oval on Tuesday (December 3, 2024).

The Australian, all soft words and a shy grin, handled the inquisition with the same ease with which he collects the ball within his wicket-keeping gloves. As for Bumrah, Carey replied: “He is a fantastic bowler and our batters are world class as well and will find ways to come up with solutions. I have had a look at him now, so hopefully we can combat that first and second spell, get him bowling a bit deeper in the innings with an older ball. We saw Travis (Head) sort of counter punch (at Perth).”

Ever since Josh Hazlewood casually spoke about bowlers looking ahead towards the second Test while the first Test was in the balance at Perth, a rumour about a split between batters and seamers has done the rounds. It was Carey’s turn to deny these whispers: “If you ask the batters, we all want to perform better. As cricketers you go there to score a 100 and if you don’t do that, you are at times disappointed. But we are a very united group.”

Reminded about bundling out India for 36 at this same venue in 2020, Carey adopted a guarded tone: “They were obviously amazing days in cricketing history. But no, we don’t go out there expecting to do that again. We have a plan and will try to execute that, and whatever happens, happens. But I wasn’t here for that Test match. I tried to get in, but I missed it. And it happened too quickly. But yeah, we are excited and we do take a lot of confidence out of our record with pink ball cricket.”

File picture of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in a group picture with India squad after rain delays the two-day warm-up match between Prime Ministers XI and India, at Manuka Oval in Canberra
| Photo Credit: ANI

After taking part in the two-day warm-up match against Prime Minister’s XI, Rohit Sharma-led Team India on Monday (December 2, 2024) departed from Canberra for the Adelaide Test, which will be starting from December 6.

Earlier on Sunday (December 1, 20245) in the warm-up match, a four-wicket haul by pacer Harshit Rana, along with commanding knocks from Shubman Gill, Nitish Kumar Reddy, and Yashasvi Jaiswal, helped India secure a five-wicket win against Australia’s Prime Ministers’ XI at Canberra’s Manuka Oval.

While leaving, skipper Rohit and star India pacer Mohammed Siraj were seen taking selfies with the fans who were waiting outside the team hotel in Canberra. Top batter Shubman Gill and assistant coach Abhishek Nayar were also captured leaving the team hotel for Adelaide along with other players.

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In the first Test match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India staged a stunning comeback from a series whitewash against New Zealand at home, defeating Australia by 295 runs in Perth despite being bowled out for a mere 150 runs in their first innings.

Siraj credits Bumrah for turnaround after difficult home season

Back in form with five wickets in India’s brilliant come-from-behind win in the Perth Test against Australia, Mohammed Siraj has credited his senior pace colleague and attack spearhead Jasprit Bumrah for helping him turn things around after an ordinary home series against New Zealand.

The 30-year-old endured a difficult home season, managing just two wickets in two Tests during India’s disastrous 0-3 loss to New Zealand prior to the tour Down Under, but returned to his best in the opening Test against Australia.

Siraj said it was a chat with stand-in skipper and No.1 ranked Test bowler Bumrah prior to the tour that helped him make a comeback in the series-opener in Perth where India recovered from a first innings collapse to 150 for a massive 295-run triumph.

“I always keep talking to Jassi bhai (Bumrah),” Siraj said after the India’s six-wicket win over Australian Prime Minister’s XI in a practice match here on Sunday.

“Even before the first match, I spoke with him about what I was going through. And he just told me one thing — don’t run (chase) after wickets, just keep bowling consistently in one area and enjoy your bowling. If you still don’t get wickets, then you come ask me.

“So I enjoyed my bowling and I got wickets as well,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI, ANI)