Image Credit- Getty
India will play the Prime Minister’s XI in Canberra for two days in a pink-ball warm-up match prior to the day-night Test match against Australia in Adelaide.
Between the first and second Tests, on November 30 and December 1, Manuka Oval will host the floodlit match.
Traditionally a limited-overs match, the Prime Minister’s XI event has featured a four-day encounter between Pakistan in 2023 and the West Indies in 2022 (which was also a day-night game). This season, however, the India game will only last two days.
India lost the day-night Test in Adelaide by eight wickets during their last tour of Australia in 2020–21 after being bowled out for their lowest Test score of 36 in the second innings. However, they famously bounced back to win the series 2-1 in Brisbane with a historic performance.
This time the series will start in Perth and consist of five Tests, unlike the previous time when Adelaide was the first Test of a four-match series that was finished despite the difficulties caused by Covid-19 border controls.
All told, India has only played four day-night Test matches; the most recent was at Bengaluru, India, in 2022 against Sri Lanka. Australia, on the other hand, has played twelve, all at home; their only loss with the pink ball was in Brisbane last season, when they lost by eight runs to the West Indies.
The Prime Minister’s XI has been a formidable squad that has essentially functioned as an Australia A team in recent seasons. Matt Renshaw has been extremely successful in the last two matches against Pakistan and the West Indies, scoring 81, 101, and 136 not out.
Even though the bad weather had made things tough for the ground crew, Pakistan criticised the Manuka Oval surface last season for being extremely slow and low, which did not provide the best preparation for the Test in Perth. After an overnight downpour, the last day of the game was called off and the covers were torn off.
Before the first Test on November 22, India will warm up intrasquad at the WACA from November 15–18. Following a three-match home Test series against New Zealand, they will go to Australia.
Beginning in late October, a team from India A will go to Australia to play two four-day matches in Mackay and Melbourne.