India go into the second Test against Australia in Adelaide with a upper hand after winning the first game in Perth by a huge 295 runs in the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT). Notably, the second Test in BGT will be played with the pink ball in a day-night affair. Having been played for the first time in 2015, the concept of day-night Tests was taken to make the longest format of the game more interesting.
Since 2015, 44 pink ball Tests have been played with Australian being the most successful side with 11 wins from 12 games. In fact, it was Australia and New Zealand, who played the first-ever day-night Test match in 2015 in Adelaide. The second India vs Australia Test starts on December 6 at the Adelaide Oval.
India’s record in day-night Tests
India’s first pink ball Test match came in 2019 against Bangladesh. Kolkata’s Eden Gardens hosted the historic match, under the leadership of former skipper Sourav Ganguly as the BCCI president.
So far, India have played four pink ball Test matches. After they won against Bangladesh, India lost to Australia in 2020 before winning against England (2021) and Sri Lanka (2021) at home.
The highest score by India in a day-night Test was 347/9 decl against Bangladesh. However, India’s 36 all out in Adelaide against Australia is their lowest till date.
With 277 runs in four matches, Virat Kohli is the highest run-getter for India in pink ball Tests. Ravichandran Ashwin has taken 18 wickets for India in pink ball Tests.
Unforgettable 36 all out in Adelaide
The last and only time India faced Australia in a day-night Test was in 2020. It was the same game where India were bowled out for 36 – their lowest in history of Test cricket.
Electing to bat first, India rode on Virat Kohli’s 74 to post 244 in the first innings. Ajinkya Rahane and Cheteshwar Pujara contributed with 42 and 43 respectively in that innings.
In reply, Australia were bowled out for 191, despite a fighting unbeaten 73 by then captain Tim Paine. However, the Indian team just fell like a pack of cards in the second innings as Josh Hazlewood (5/8) and Pat Cummins (4/21) simply destroyed the opposition.
Australia won the game with eight wickets to spare in the fourth innings. Notably, India came back from Adelaide humiliation to win two Tests in next three games to take home the BGT.
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