Australia are set to tweak their bowling strategies for the pink-ball Test in Adelaide against India's top-order batters -- Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul.
This comes following the home team’s embarrassing 295-run defeat in the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test in Perth.
Scott Boland is expected to replace injured Josh Hazlewood in the second Test. Despite the changes, Boland assures there's no panic in the Australian camp.
After the opening day's play between India and the Australian Prime Minister's XI was abandoned due to rain in Canberra, Boland addressed the media and acknowledged the need for minor strategy revisions.
"We've spoken as a team about our plans for all the different Indian batters. I won't tell you those, but we've got pretty set plans. They might have a little bit of a tweak after the guys have seen them again from Perth," Boland told reporters.
Despite losing the Perth Test, Boland emphasized a calm atmosphere in the Australian dressing room.
"There’s definitely no panic stations in our change rooms. There’s obviously going to be some chats around individual performances, and everyone wants to perform really well every game they play," he added.
The fast bowler further highlighted that the loss is just a single setback. "But yeah, it’s like, we’ve lost one game."
Jaiswal and Rahul have put India in a commanding position with their disciplined batting display in the first Test.
After securing a handy first-innings lead of 46 runs, India needed their batters to dig in during the second essay and the opening pair did exactly that. They batted cautiously against the new ball and punished the opposition bowlers after getting set. This approach didn’t only put India in the driver’s seat but also tired out the Australian attack.
Jaiswal and Rahul added 201 runs for the opening wicket, with the former slamming 161 off 297 balls and latter scoring 77 off 176 deliveries.
Later on, Virat Kohli produced an unbeaten century (100) as the visitors declared their second innings at 487/6, setting a daunting target of 534 for the home side.
Boland acknowledged the strong performance of India’s openers. "Obviously, (Yashasvi) Jaiswal batted really well there. KL Rahul batted well in the second innings as well and really dug in," he stated.
"So we'll probably have a chat over the next week, and our plans might slightly change, but I’m pretty confident what we did in the first game was good."
The Australian pace trio of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood struggled to contain India's second innings. Boland defended his teammates, saying. "I think our bowlers bowled really well as well. Maybe the only difference was that the Indian bowlers got a really nice long break between their first innings and second innings, whereas our break wasn’t as long."
Boland, who last featured in the 2023 Ashes Test at Leeds, attributed meticulous rehabilitation process for his return to contention.
"I worked really hard in the off-season to get my body to a spot where I’m confident that if I get another chance, I’ll be able to perform for Australia again. I didn’t want to rush anything and risk re-injuring myself, so we took it pretty slow with my rehab," he remarked.
