IIt would be difficult to argue that Australia’s top four bowlers are anyone other than Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon. All four are among Australia’s top 10 Test wicket-takers, with the first two reaching the 300 scalps mark and the latter two easily surpassing it. In total their number is 1,443.

Since their first combination in the 2017-18 Ashes, they have played 31 Tests together, by far an international record for any frontline quartet. Even with injuries and changing configurations in tour conditions, that represents almost half of Australia’s 64 Tests in that period, including 23 of 36 at home.

And that includes the last nine Tests, where India played three series. Mitchell Marsh is the only other Australian bowler in these games to take an Indian wicket. But in a country where India has struggled for decades with an all-time bowling attack, Australia has won two of those nine Tests. Five losses, two draws, which equates to two series against India and a 1-0 lead in the third game.

It’s strange. This season’s defeat in Perth can be attributed to the batting and there are others in this sequence where the specialists did not give their bowlers enough rest. Some of the bowling numbers in these games are outstanding: Hazlewood with 35 wickets at 22, Cummins 38 at 25. Even in the losses and draws, they kept their averages in the 20s. Starc and Lyon are more of a problem, averaging 38 and 39 respectively, and both reached almost 47 in the games Australia didn’t win.

But despite the good numbers, this is still the attack that bowled 447 firsts on Boxing Day 2018 and 622 firsts bowled in the next game in Sydney. The attack that failed to defeat India on the fifth day of the following series, drawing in Sydney and triggering a big chase in Brisbane. Even in Perth the workload in the first innings this year was light and there was an overnight break before the second shift in which the score was 487 for 6. Whatever the mitigation on any of these points, the bottom line is that this attack does not pose much concern for the visitors.

So, oddly enough, could it help Australia that their first choice is unavailable ahead of the second Test in Adelaide given Hazlewood’s injury? According to the numbers, Hazlewood is the worst option to lose – but could a change at least give India an option that the country is less used to? This applies to both Test cricket and the IPL, where Australia’s three quicks spend a lot of time.

Scott Boland maintains such a low profile despite dismantling India in their losing World Test Championship chase in London last year. The other pace options available to the selectors before naming Boland in the Adelaide squad – Brendan Doggett and Sean Abbott – have never played a Test. Any of them would be enough as a wild card to disrupt India’s rhythm rather than prevail against a familiar threat.

But there is another twist. Of Australia’s paltry two wins out of nine, one came in Adelaide in the only previous day-night Test of the series. This week’s game will be the second. Starc and Lyon have the less flattering numbers in these nine games, but they have played every pink-ball Test Australia has hosted. They are the top two wicket-takers in this variant of the format, with Hazlewood and Cummins ranked third and fourth. The last time the pink ball was on the line, Australia bowled out India by 36 points. While there could be an argument for upsetting the quad, this is the worst of the five tests ever.

And in the end, it doesn’t matter which bowler Australia uses if their team can’t get a score. India faces the problem of getting some run-makers back into their batting order, Australia faces the problem of how to squeeze some runs out of their batting order. Rohit Sharma will return to captain India. KL Rahul remains in the team as an opener. Shubman Gill will likely be back at first drop.

Meanwhile, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith, under pressure after their performance in Perth, batted aggressively in the Adelaide nets two days later, hitting their offside shots except when Smith pushed a net bowler’s inswinger into his middle stump. “Again!” he shouted for the second time. “The pink ball!” Australia must hope that it works out to their advantage.