Australia v India Second Test tips: Aussies can shine again under lights

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Australia v India
Friday 6 December, 04:00
TV: live on TNT Sports

Australia v India Second Test team news

Australia, the nation, have collectively hit the panic button. Whether those wearing the Baggy Green have done the same is unlikely. They have resisted the temptation for wholsesale changes and may go with ten of the players which were beaten heavily in Perth.

Josh Hazlewood is the only absentee with injury. Mitch Marsh has been a doubt with a niggle but he has said he expects to be fit.

Hazlewood's place will go to either Scott Boalnd or Sean Abbott. Boland would be more like-for-like. If Abott gets the gig then it is a window into the mindset of the home team as Abbott is a decent batter.

Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith are under prressure for runs. Labuschagne could well be dropped for game three if he fails again.

Probable Australia XI: McSweeney, Khawaja, Labuschagne, Smith, Head, M Marsh, Carey, Cummins, Starc, Lyon, Boland

India have options all over the place with Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill, Ravi Jadeja and Ravi Ashwin all absent from their success in the first Test. Rohit, the skipper, is guaranteed to return.

However, he will not open the batting as India are loathe to break up Yas jaiswal and KL Rahul in the opening slot, a duo which set up their win with a brilliant show in the second dig.

Gill may have to wait for an opportunity with Rohit expected to slot in at No 3. Whether Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy are preferred to Jadeja and Ashwin may depend on the pitch. A dry surface could mean the Big Two come back in.

Possible India XI: Jaiswal, KL, Rohit, Kohli, Pant, Jurel, Reddy, Sundar, Harshit, Bumrah, Siraj

Australia v India Second Test pitch report

All seven day-night Tests at Adelaide have produced results. There is no toss bias. But batting is slightly trickier. With the pink ball the average runs per wicket is 28.9, in day Tests it is 32. Still, 440 at least has been busted in four of those seven first-innings. Do bear in mind, though, that if playing the runs markets a declaration is likely just before dusk to get that pink ball moving.

India were all out for 36 at this ground under lights in 2020. We expect their innings runs line to settle for shorting at around 320.5. Keeping the lights on side with the pink ball is wise in-play.

Australia v India Second Test match prediction

Either this Australia team are teetering on the brink of collapse after a brilliant few years. Or they had a bad day, or two, at the office in Western Australia.

It could be time to put some faith in the Aussies that either they know what they're doing or they fall back on their famed figthting spirit. Either way, 1.981/1 about an Aussie team which has won 11 of its 12 day-nighters looks decent.

India having to bat against a moving pink ball is not insignificant, either. We have already checked that 36 all out. As a general rule getting against Asia teams when the ball starts to do something in the air is not a bad strategy.

Yes, Australia have batting issues, too. But on balance there might have been an overreaction to that Perth loss.

Australia v India Second Test player bets

Mitchell Starc is our first port of call on the player markets. He is brilliant with the pink ball and the 13/53.60 that he takes most wickets in the first innings for the hosts is a bet.

Starc has more wickets than anyone under lights in 12 Tests with a strike rate of 36. At Adelaide he strikes at 35 with 39 in seven. It's not a bet without risk, though, as Pat Cummins wins the market at 40% in the last two years.

Related to that bet is the belief that the pink ball will swing. So the 13/82.63 hat a keeper takes a catch in each of the four innings (there must be four) is worthy of an interest, too.

A batter to follow is Usman Khawaja. He has been exceptional in the last two years and although the 4/15.00 with Sportsbook about top aussie bat in the first is a win-rater, the 15/82.88 for a fifty feels like a more simple strategy in case the track is flat and a massive tom is needed.

A batter not to follow is Labuschagne. We often talk about a batter knowing where his off stump is. Given labuschagne's dismissals in perth it looks as though he's unsure where middle is. he looks shot and his intensity may now be a weakness. Short his runs in the first in-play at 31.5 at 5/61.84.

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