After their thumping victory in the opening Test in Perth, a confident Team India would be looking towards their in-form pace bowlers to pile further misery on the struggling Australia batting line-up, in the second Test in Adelaide, starting Friday.
The pink-ball Test match is expected to challenge for the batters from both teams, especially the Australians, who seem short of confidence.
What will be worrying for Australia is that while India batted more than 134 overs in their second innings, scoring 487/6 declared, their batters couldn't even last 60 overs in their second innings on a Day 4 Perth pitch which had eased considerably.
Captain Jasprit Bumrah showed the way with the ball as he dismantled the Australian batting line-up with his fiery pace and swing. He picked up eight wickets in the match, with sensational figures of 5/30 in the first innings which proved to be a big turning point as India bounced back after getting bowled out for 150.
Harshit Rana, 22, enjoyed a memorable debut with four wickets in the match as he proved to be too hot to handle for the Aussies, while Mohammed Siraj bounced his way back to form with five wickets in the game.
India would have been encouraged by their batters' fine comeback in the second innings. Yashasvi Jaiswal, playing in his first Test in Australia, showed no nerves as he slammed a brilliant 161 in the second innings, hitting 15 fours and three sixes, while Virat Kohli finally ended his lean patch with a sparkling century.
Kohli will take a lot of confidence from his superb record in Adelaide, where he scored his maiden Test hundred in 2012. He has hit three centuries in four Tests at this venue, amassing 509 runs at an average of 63.
K L Rahul was easily the hero with the bat for India. Having been assigned the difficult task of opening the batting in Rohit Sharma's absence, he stood up to the task quite well.
Rahul, who has been batting in the middle order in the last year or so, battled bravely in tough conditions in the first innings as he held forte for 74 scoring 26 on a green pitch. He carried that confidence into the next innings, with another solid knock of 77, putting on a decisive stand of 201 runs for the opening wicket with Jaiswal.
With Rohit returning for the second Test, a tough decision looms for the Indians over Rahul's role as opener. The India skipper has been a regular opener in Test cricket in the last five years. Ever since he made three centuries in as many Tests while opening the batting against South Africa in October 2019, he has never batted in any other position.
The last time he batted in the middle order was in Australia in the 2018-2019 series when he played at No. 6.
However, considering Rohit's below-par showing as opener in both the home series against New Zealand and Bangladesh, with just one fifty in 10 innings, it could be a wise move to temporarily move him to the middle order and continue the in-form Rahul as opener for the next couple of Tests at least.
Another player who is set to make comeback to the playing XI is Shubman Gill, who missed the series opener after sustaining a thumb injury during fielding practice. However, he made a quick recovery and got back to form with a fine half-century in the two-day practice match against the Australian Prime Minister's XI in Canberra.
The highly-rated Gill, with a batting average of 36 in 29 Tests, has struggled for consistency. In the four Tests he played against Bangladesh and New Zealand, he showed flashes of brilliance storking a century and another knock of 90, but he failed to make it count in the other six innings in the two series.
All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy looks set to retain his place as the pace bowling all-rounder. The 21 year old top-scored on a difficult track to rally India to 150 in their first innings and then smashed a quickfire 38 from 27 balls in the second essay, while taking a wicket in the match.
Spinner Washington Sundar, a surprise inclusion ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja after his excellent comeback during the New Zealand series, justified his inclusion with a good spell in the second innings taking 2/48 in 15 overs.
He is likely to continue as the lone spinner in the Adelaide Test with India set to retain the same bowling attack including three frontline pacers in Bumrah, Siraj and Rana.
Australia have plenty to worry about heading into the second Test. Their top four comprising of Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith managed just 44 runs between them in the two innings.
Australia's best two batters in Tests have been woefully short of form this year. Labuschagne has tallied just 123 runs in his last 10 innings while Smith has just one fifty in his last 10 innings.
Travis Head was the only Australian batter who stood up to the tough challenge against Bumrah & Co in Perth with a counter-attacking knock of 89.
The hosts suffered a blow as pacer Josh Hazlewood was ruled out due to injury with Scott Boland expected to take his place.
Although their batting came undone in Perth, Australia will be wary of not pressing the panic button and making too many changes for the Adelaide Test.
Spinner Nathan Lyon could be looking to make his presence felt in Adelaide, where he boasts of a stellar record with 63 wickets in 13 Tests.
India have a chance to create history as a victory at the Adelaide Oval could see them winning the first two Tests in a series in Australia for the first time ever.
Australia, despite their debacle in Perth, cannot be taken for granted. They enjoyed a superb record against India in Adelaide winning eight out of their 13 Tests played against them at this venue.
They also have an amazing record in day-night Tests with just one defeat in 12 Tests, while India have won three of their four day-night Tests, with their sole defeat coming in the pink ball Test Adelaide in December 2020. Australia enjoyed a perfect record in day-night Tests at Adelaide, winning all their seven games.
Bumrah will once again be the key for India with the ball. His recent form against Australia has been outstanding with 17 wickets in the last three Tests against them. Overall, he has picked up 40 wickets in eight Tests against Australia at an impressive average of 18.8.
India enjoy a dominant recent record in Australia, having won three out of their last four Tests Down Under, with one finishing in a draw.
The Indians, who are firing on all cylinders, are looking on course for an elusive hat-trick Down Under and it would need a special effort from the Aussies to stop them in Adelaide.
Probable India XI: Yashasvi Jaiswal, K L Rahul, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana.
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