BCCI's inconsistent policy with pink ball a reason for Adelaide debacle

India, who looked totally dominant against Australia at Perth’s Optus Stadium in the first Test last month, went down not with a bang but with a whimper in the Day-Night Test at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday.  

The second Test ended in only the first session of the third day as Australia won by 10 wickets, having dismissed Rohit Sharma-led India for 180 and 175 in the two innings.

The Pat Cummins-led Australia had made 337 in their first innings.

Indian bowlers erred in line and length on the first day in the night session, considered to be the most productive time in a day’s play for pace bowlers.  

The batsmen, including the experienced Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, also struggled to deal with the pace and movement accorded by the pink ball.

The loss throws light on India’s lack of practice with the pink ball. They have played just five pink ball Tests, winning all three at home and losing both in Australia. As against them, Australia have been playing Test cricket with pink ball since 2015 and have won 12 of the 13. Their only loss came in January, 2024 against West Indies at Brisbane.

India played their first pink ball-Test in 2019, against Bangladesh at home which they won. Their second Test with pink ball was in 2020 against Australia at Adelaide where they were shot out for just 36, their lowest Test total.

India came back from that loss in Adelaide to win the four-Test series 2-1 which showed that loss in the Test with pink ball was just an aberration.

India next played a pink ball-Test two months later at home against England in February, 2021. That Test had also marked the renaming of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Stadium at Motera to Narendra Modi Stadium after its redevelopment.

A year later, in January 2022, they again played a Test with pink ball, beating Sri Lanka at home.

Since then, however, pink ball Tests in India have stopped.

There was no pink ball Test in 2023, the year when whole of Indian cricket was focussed on the 50-over Cricket World Cup at home.

Then there was also no pink ball scheduled for 2024.

Even at the domestic level, BCCI stopped pink ball games after initial experimentation in Duleep Trophy in August-September of 2016. 

In short, India have not played a pink ball Test since the beginning of 2022. It was supposed to become an annual feature post India’s debut with it in 2019 but somehow the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), under Roger Binny and Jay Shah, could not remain consistent with it and make it an annual feature.

That is probably why India players looked completely out of sorts at the Adelaide Oval. Indian fans would hope this is just an aberration and their team would be better equipped to deal with the red ball in the coming Test at Brisbane.

Tags : BCCI, India, Australia, Adelaide, Pink Ball, 2nd Test, Brisbane, Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Pat Cummins