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.”

Australia’s Travis Head prepares for the second Test against India in Adelaide, reflecting on past successes and facing formidable challenges.
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Under quirky Adelaide skies, sunny at one point, damp at another, Travis Head always feels at home. Back in his city in the lead-up to the second Test against India from Friday (December 6, 2024), Head is looking for clues from the past and equally gazing with hope into the immediate future.

In his previous two Tests at the Adelaide Oval, Head was adjudged as the ‘player-of-the-match’. Against India, he held his own in the first Test at Perth while many would recall his hundred in the 2023 ICC World Cup final that deflated Rohit Sharma’s men at Ahmedabad. Add to it India’s 36 during the 2020 Test here, and Head can surely lean on this rich vein of historical optimism.

But he is acutely conscious of India’s strengths quadrupled by Jasprit Bumrah’s role as a spearhead. “I am lucky that I have faced him a few times and I know what’s coming, just need to start well. He is unique. Jasprit is probably going to go down as one of the greatest fast bowlers and it will be nice to tell the grandkids that I faced him,” Head told the media in Adelaide on Monday (December 2, 2024).

The 295-run loss at Perth has been dealt with and Head elaborated: “We didn’t have a very good week but we have got four more opportunities. The writing was on the wall pretty quickly in that Test and we were pushing uphill.”

For the southpaw, the pink ball in the day and night Test in Adelaide, is no threat: “It’s still a game of cricket. It’s just a pink ball coming down, you face it in the same way and you have got to react to it the same way.”

Admitting an injured Josh Hazlewood will be missed, Head was quick to praise the reserve strength: “Josh is a huge loss but we have got some pretty good stocks in the sheds with Scott (Boland), Sean (Abbott) and (Brendan) Doggett.”