Batting legend Sachin Tendulkar offered a shrewd piece of advice to Team India before they approached their maiden away D/N pink-ball encounter in Adelaide against Australia from Thursday (December 17).
Tendulkar said from his observation of the day-night Tests played before, batsmen should look to play more shots in the first session as the ball doesn't do as much off the surface and in the air in the afternoon as it does later in the day.
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The 'Master Blaster' also believes if the opportunity is there, skipper Virat Kohli will be better off declaring the innings in the twilight hours than looking for some extra runs.
"Whatever I have seen with the pink-ball Tests, you have to be extremely aware of the clock," Tendulkar told Sports Today. "Whenever the sun is going down and the temperature drops and before dew sets in and the grass is nice and cool, there is going to be a little extra lateral movement of the surface. That is when you don't just respect the bowler but you also respect the conditions."
"Here in a pink-ball Test, your first session could well be the one where you cash in where you take a little more chances and play more aggressively. Maybe in Australia, the sun goes down later than what it did in Kolkata (where India hosted Bangladesh last year for their first D/N Test).
"In Kolkata, I felt from 4:30 to 6:30 was a critical time where the batsmen had to respect not just the bowler but also the surface and build those partnerships. And once the ball gets wet, you can start playing a little more shots."
Tendulkar added, "Maybe towards the end of the 2nd session and the beginning of the last session might be the phase where the ball does a little bit extra where you need to hold back your aggression and natural instincts and be a little more disciplined."
"Also when I met the team in Kolkata and spoke to the team management and obviously there was Virat, if there are 2 wickets, don't look to score those 20 runs extra. You're better off declaring at that time and getting their top 3 batters. You might be short by 20 runs but you would have possibly saved 120 runs there."
The Australians are considered favourites for the game, having greater experience of the D/N Test conditions and winning all of their previous 7 pink-ball outings.
But the touring Indian team have had nice preparation in the build-up to the Test with a three-day warm-up game against Australia A in Sydney and multiple practice sessions for all batsmen and bowlers.
