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Brisbane or famously known as the Gabba citadel kept its honor when Australia thrashed England by 9 wickets. Our readers will appreciate that we were able to predict the scores the teams will manage and the margin of victory. 

We now have the arch-rivals set to play the second Test at the Adelaide Oval, starting this Thursday.

Pink Ball Statistics

Australia has played 8 pink-ball Test matches and won all 8. Who can forget the drubbing of the Indian team when they were out for paltry 36. Thus, Australia has always been an impeccable force with the pink ball.

On the other hand, England have played 4 tests and they have lost 3 and won only one test, which came against the West Indies. This is indeed a surprise as with James Anderson and Stuart Broad in their ranks they should have been more dominant with the cherry.

England lost to Australia by 120 runs in the pink ball Test of 2017 so the fear of losing again must be looming. England supporters must be thinking of the fact If Anderson and Broad will be back, they will tilt the balance. We wish to apprise the readers that the duo have played all four Pink ball tests and taken 14 and 10 wickets respectively and this is a pedestrian performance when considering the overall stats.

On the other hand, Mitchell Starc is most successful with 46 wickets and Cummins is 2nd with 26 wickets to his name with the pink ball. The injury of Josh Hazlewood is a big blow as he was the one who forced India into submission in the 2020 pink ball test with an exemplary spell of 5-3-8-5.

Pink Ball, an enigma

The lacquer is applied one more time than the red ball, it is prepared in 4-5 days so that the color sticks on, giving it shine for longer periods. Then Pink ball Test is played under lights, so humidity factor and atmospheric conditions induce more swing and grip on the surface. This results in greater bounce under lights.

If readers will recall Ahmedabad pink ball test, where England was tamed by spinners as they got extra bounce. All the batsmen have lower averages in the pink ball Test, for example, Root has an average of 42.71 against his overall of 50.

England batsmen have a pathetic average of 22.72 per wicket, Whereas, Australia has an average of 37.01, the highest among test nations. 

Head to Head

Matches played: 352, Australia: 147, England: 110, Draw: 95

Match timings

Match Toss Time: 09:00 IST (03:30 GMT)

Match Start Time: 09:30 IST (04:00 GMT)

Team Changes

England

James Anderson and Stuart Broad will be included, replacing Chris Woakes and Jack Leach. The batting lineup is likely to remain the same.

Playing Xl: Rory Burns, Haseeb Hameed, Dawid Malan, Joe Root (c), Ben Stokes, Ollie Pope, Jos Buttler (wk), James Anderson, Ollie Robinson, Mark Wood, Stuart Board

Australia

Hazlewood will be replaced by Richardson as he can swing the ball. If Warner is fit then the wait of Usman Khawaja is likely to continue until and unless the management decides to replace Marcus Harris.

Playing Xl: David Warner, Marcus Harris/ Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood/ Jhye Richardson

Toss

Whoever wins the toss is going to bat. On most occasions in Adelaide, the team batting first has won the match. It will be a low-scoring match and a draw looks unlikely. Australian batsmen are also vulnerable against quality swing bowling as India skittled them to 191.

Verdict

If England bats first they will put up around 250, I expect Joe Root to be among the runs. Australia is likely to reply by scoring 300. Now If England gets someone to have a great outing and they score 300 they will be in with a chance. I expect them to be out for around 200 and Australia will win with heart in mouth.

If Australia bats first, they'll put around 350 on board and win this match rather comfortably.

So hoping for England winning the toss and making it competitive.

Happy viewing.

Disclaimer 

The views and opinions expressed in the article are those of the author's view and do not necessarily reflect the official match scores, proceedings, or position of the match in any way.