After playing an all-important knock of 73 not out on Day 2 of the closely-contested first Test in Adelaide, Australia skipper Tim Paine said the pink-ball isn't so "easy" to sight for the batsmen and hence the hardwork in run-scoring.
Paine, who himself contributed very crucial runs in his team's 191 all out in response to Indians' 244, felt sighting of the ball forced both teams to adopt a risk-free approach to batting.
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Australia faced 72.1 overs for the innings after the tourists batted more than 90 overs for theirs.
"Yes, definitely the quality of the fast bowling is exceptional. Pink ball that is probably another factor. It takes time to adjust and it is not as easy to pick up and I will tell you, it is harder for the player," said Paine at a post-day press conference, as quoted by PTI.
After taking a 53-run lead, which would've been a lot more had they hold on to their chances, the Indians lost opener Prithvi Shaw (4) early again and finished play at 9/1 in 6 overs.
Having conceded the advantage, Paine admitted this isn't the best of batting performance from his team despite the difficult nature of the conditions.
"Yes, (it is) certainly not our best performance but credit to them," he said. "They (India) bowled really well, put us under pressure, we just could not get any momentum or any partnerships together, we couldn’t quite do that today, but our top order has done a good job for a fair while now."
Paine, however, didn't think all is lost for his team given the bowling quality at their disposal.
"At the end of the day, we have got to chase, we know it is going to be a challenge, the quality of bowling is exceptional, anything can happen tomorrow."
"We know our fast-bowling attack and Nathon Lyon, we thought his first 10 overs yesterday created a number of chances."
"We have got the ability to take quick wickets, and obviously we will try and do that tomorrow, keep the scoreboard under control and hopefully one of our great bowlers has bit of run-on and somewhat momentum and I think and hopefully keep that score as low as possible."
Paine also explained the decision to go with usual first-change Pat Cummins instead of Josh Hazlewood with the new-ball later in the day.
"That decision was made (to open with Cummins), I feel like most of this game, which has been unusual for pink ball, it hasn’t really swung, it has been nip of that swing and Patty has been our best in that."
"Basically he isn’t a huge swinger of the ball, but he nips it more of the seam both ways. Starcy (Mitchell Starc) under lights with his pace from his height, it is very difficult to pick up anyways."
"So, Josh was happy with that (decision) and he will playing a big role for us tomorrow," he signed off.
