Mitchell Starc gave Australia a dream start by dismissing Indian opener Yashasvi Jaiswal for a platinum duck – a dismissal on the first ball of the day-night Test at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. Sticking with India’s bold approach to batting first, captain Rohit Sharma, on his comeback from paternity leave, won the toss and didn’t hesitate to bat first despite the pink ball being known to trouble the batsmen early on. Rohit made a huge sacrifice and dropped back to the middle order after more than six years to ensure that the opening pair of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul were not disturbed. Jaiswal and Rahul had put together a record partnership of over 200 in India’s second innings in Perth.

The structure was there. The anticipation was high and Starc, not for the first time in his career, won the battle of nerves on the first ball. Jaiswal felt that Starc was “too slow” in Perth, despite having beaten him with an 8-ball in the first innings -Duck took out. Starc said he didn’t even hear what the Indian opener had to say but agreed that young Jaiswal was the one for the future. The second chapter of Starc vs Jaiswal was about the pink ball, which generally obeys the Australian pacers. In his first tryst with the pink ball, Jaiswal got the proof first-hand.

It was full and full of momentum. On another day, Jaiswal would have stood still and flicked it off his pads for a boundary. But on Friday he made the mistake of expecting an outswinger. Such was his anticipation, going over his stumps and exposing his leg stump, almost like Rory Burns did to Starc in the first ball against Starc. In Jaiswal’s case, the ball bounced on his pads instead of rattling the leg stump. But the result was no different. Just like Burns, Jaiswal had to go back to the hut to get a golden duck.

He had a brief chat with opening partner KL Rahul but the veteran batsman did the right thing by telling the youngster to continue his march instead of wasting a review. There was no way he would change the decision. It pitched in a line, hit in a line and crashed onto leg stump.

India make three changes, Australia bring in Boland

India made three changes to their playing eleven. Captain Rohit, No. 3 Shubman Gill and veteran Ravichandran Ashwin came into the team in place of Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel and Washington Sundar.

Australia made one change and Scott Boland was recalled to replace the injured Josh Hazlewood, who sustained a side strain in Australia’s heavy 295-run defeat in the first Test, taking a match tally of 5-57 from 34 overs.

Australia and India have only met in one day-night Test so far – at the same venue in 2020, where India were bowled out for 36 runs in their second innings and lost by eight wickets.

It was India’s only defeat in four pink-ball Tests since 2019, having beaten Bangladesh, England and Sri Lanka at home.

Australia have played more pink-ball Tests than any other country (12) and have lost just once, the last game against the West Indies in Brisbane in January.

India have three changes with Sharma returning to the middle order after India retained opening pair KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal following their winning 201-run partnership in Perth.

Shubman Gill recovered from his thumb injury and returned to No. 3 in the rankings. Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel are out.

Offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin returned in place of Washington Sundar.

None of the 22 pink-ball Tests so far have ended in a draw and both pairs of bowlers are expected to be at the forefront again. There is a uniform layer of grass on the surface of the Adelaide Oval, which may favor the batters from the second day onwards.