Why ugly India wounds could re-open... and create Test path for Aussie hopefuls

Rarely has the Australian Test side been dominated to such an extent in their own backyard.

India’s 295-run victory in Perth was an old-fashioned hiding, prompting some extreme reaction from within the Australian sporting community.

The defeat was humbling for Australia’s Test stars – Jasprit Bumrah made the top-order look foolish, heaping further pressure on Marnus Labuschagne following a lean 12 months with the bat.

Australia hasn’t recovered from a 1-0 deficit to win a Test series since the 1997 Ashes tour, meaning a generational feat would be required for Pat Cummins’ side to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

However, the Australians will feel confident of getting their campaign back on track in Adelaide next week.

The second Test against India will be a day-night contest, with the pink Kookaburra set to be unleashed in the South Australian capital. Australia has never lost a pink-ball Test at Adelaide Oval, undefeated after seven matches, including the eight-wicket victory over India in 2020.

And the tourists won’t need to be reminded of what happened in that match.

36 all out. India’s lowest Test score ever. Opener Mayank Agarwal top-scored with 9. It was scarcely believable.

Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins weren’t hooping the ball around corners, rather generating enough movement to threaten the outside edge. Typically, some deliveries would sail past the bat, prompting oohs and ahhs from the slips cordon, but on that fateful afternoon, everything caught the edge.

Australia’s pink-ball Tests in Adelaide

2015 — three-wicket win vs New Zealand

2016 — seven-wicket win vs South Africa

2017 — 120-run win vs England

2019 — innings and 48-run win vs Pakistan

2020 — eight-wicket win vs India

2021 — 275-run win vs England

2022 — 419-run win vs West Indies.

“That was an amazing hour,” Cummins told Fox Cricket.

“It felt like the match was in the balance as we turned up to the ground, and then within an hour, the game was basically over.

“The pink ball’s something we’ve had quite a lot of success with over the last few years and we know quite well, so we’ll see how we go.”

The Australian captain was quick to acknowledge how the rest of that series transpired — after the Adelaide demolition, India immediately returned serve with a victory at the MCG before clinching a historic 2-1 series triumph.

“They bounced back pretty well after that game,” Cummins muttered.

Following last week’s defeat in Perth, the Australians should take inspiration from how India turned things around four years ago.

Virat Kohli is the only batter who featured in the Adelaide Test four years ago that’s still in India’s starting XI, but the superstar has a superb record at Adelaide Oval, compiling 509 runs at 63.62 in four Tests. Any lingering scars from 2020 will be overshadowed by his three Test hundreds at the picturesque venue.

Among the Australians, Labuschagne has the superior record in pink-ball Tests — and the Queenslander will be desperate that form transfers across to Adelaide Oval next week.

Australian batting average in pink-ball Tests

63.85 — Marnus Labuschagne

49.36 — Travis Head

40.00 — Steve Smith

39.69 — Usman Khawaja

35.14 — Alex Carey

15.75 — Mitchell Marsh

Indian captain Rohit Sharma, who didn’t play last week’s Perth Test due to the birth of his second child, conducted a net session against the pink ball the day after he touched down in Australia.

But India’s preparations will ramp up this weekend for the Prime Minister’s XI day-night contest at Canberra’s Manuka Oval. The two-day match provides an opportunity for the tourists to accustom themselves to the pink Kookaburra before the Adelaide Test, which starts on December 6.

West Australian quick Mahli Beardman, who was unexpectedly parachuted into Australia’s platoon for the recent white-ball tour of the United Kingdom, features in the Prime Minister’s XI squad, along with Test seamer Scott Boland.

National selectors have made it clear they consider Beardman a star of the future, and the 19-year-old, yet to play a first-class match, has a chance to prove why against a world-class opponent.

Meanwhile, openers Sam Konstas and Matt Renshaw will be hoping to press their case for Test selection in the nation’s capital this weekend. Amid growing calls for members of Australia’s fragile top order to face the axe, the duo could shoehorn themselves back into the Test conversation with runs against India.

If India takes a 2-0 series lead next week, changes would be inevitable.