Australia’s Nathan Lyon is seen during the third day of the second Test against India in Adelaide.
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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.”

Jasprit Bumrah reacts on day 1 of the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy day-night Test in Adelaide on December 6, 2024.
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Ryan ten Doeschate felt that India can turn the tide in the second Test. “I know that the scores look like there is a big gap between the two teams but we still feel we are in the game and with a few tweaks tomorrow (Saturday, December 7, 2024), we can get back in the game,” India’s assistant coach told the media at the Adelaide Oval on Friday (December 6, 2024) night.

He mentioned that things happen a bit faster with the pink ball: “It is the nature of the pink ball. Things happen in clumps, we lost wickets in clumps, which we wanted to avoid. I also thought that Mitchell’s (Starc) stock ball was very good and there are lessons to be learnt from that first innings. We will look at how we can play better in the second innings.”

Drawing inspiration from the Perth Test, ten Doeschate said: “At Perth we got bowled out for 150 and still we got back into that game. This is a proud team and the players want to come here and do well. We may be slightly behind in the game now but there won’t be any surrendering.”

Explaining that perhaps the Indian seamers could have bowled a bit fuller, ten Doeschate also gave credit to the way Australia batted: “They left very well. We feel that the kind of swing and seam is a little bit inconsistent which makes it tough for both parties.”

The assistant coach also lauded Nitish Kumar: “We are pleased with him. He is a young kid, and a little bit of work has to be done. But the way he played at Perth and out here, these are knocks of good quality.” And about picking R. Ashwin, ten Doeschate said: “We felt that on this surface he will be more suited.”

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.