'India Will Bounce Back In Brisbane'

'Going into Brisbane, India need a tight strategy for Travis Head and they need to get Akash Deep in and maybe Ravindra Jadeja for Ashwin.'

India were battered and bruised by the Australians in the pink ball Test in Adelaide.

Travis Head's attacking century was pivotal in Australia's 10 wicket win to go level 1-1 in the series.

There has been constant chatter about Rohit Sharma's batting position and how that could have affected India's performance in Adelaide, but former national selector Jatin Paranjpe reckons otherwise.

"Australia bowled much better than India in Adelaide and the Indian bowlers were not able to carve out a strategy against Head," Paranjpe, a member of the BCCI Cricket Advisory Committee and co-founder KheloMore, tells Norma Godinho/Rediff.com.

Do you think Rohit Sharma coming down the order was one of the reasons for India's failure in the Adelaide Test?

I don't think so. What really was missing was the accuracy from the bowling department.

This was a pitch which needed a different length to be bowled on, which the Australians got spot on. But India were not as clinical with the ball as they were in Perth. I thought Australia bowled much better than India.

India were not able to carve out a strategy against Travis Head. And that was the reason why the Australians even on a helpful track were able to get a 150 lead in the first innings and that was the game changer.

Does Harshit Rana deserve to get another outing given his poor showing in Adelaide or do you think lack of experience with the pink ball affected his performance?

I thought he bowled really well in Perth. But in Adelaide... the pink ball is not exactly like the red ball. It is slightly lighter, it bounces more, so the bowlers need some experience behind them. India has not played a lot of pink ball Test matches while Australia have, so I think Harshit Rana was definitely affected by the pink ball.

Would you reckon T20 cricket mindset is affecting the attitude of our batters in Tests, considering the manner in which Rishabh Pant and Nitish Reddy were batting in Adelaide?

The T20 mindset is here to stay but the Indian youngsters are handling the Australian conditions very well.

Rishabh Pant is a maverick. He will give us amazing amount of joy and the very next moment he will cause us a lot of pain because of the way he plays. We just have to get on with it. What he has done in his short career so far is amazing. He's got a hundred in South Africa, he's got a century in England and one in Australia...

In addition to Rishabh Pant, Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal and K L Rahul become extremely important cogs for India for the next three Test matches. We need two out of these three players to score a hundred over the next two-three Test matches because that will ensure India get to about 270-300.

India need to try and target to get 270-300 in each first innings that they bat because if that happens at the Gabba and at the MCG, 270 to 300 will be a great 1st innings score to put up.

Do you think lack of match practice ahead of the series affected India?

I think the pink ball played a role, we don't play a lot with the pink ball. As a batter I can tell you that it's very tough to watch it out of the bowler's hands. You need a lot of practice and you need more than just one week's practice.

You need to have played 5-6 matches before you play a pink ball Test match. I knew it would be tough for India in Adelaide.

Should India prepare to host more day-night Tests given our record in pink ball Tests?

I am not a big fan of pink ball cricket and fail to understand its existence. So I am not in favour of India hosting day-night Tests.

Now with the World Test Championship, every match becomes crucial because you want to score points off every match. So we need to take a strategic call whether do it or not.

We seem to be missing bench strength in the bowling department in Test cricket.

There are two extremely talented bowlers whom I think very highly of and are sitting in the reserves right now -- one is Prasidh Krishna and second is Akash Deep.

Akash Deep and Prasidh Krishna are good enough to support Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj.

I feel extremely confident that Akash Deep will play in both the Gabba Test and in the Melbourne Test and he will bowl exceedingly well. He bowls lengths similar to Mohammed Shami's and those lengths are the best lengths to bowl at.

Bumrah will find an even more helpful foil in Akash Deep than he is finding in Mohmmad Siraj right now.

What does India need to do going into the third Test?

They need a tight strategy for Travis Head and they need to get Akash Deep in and maybe Ravindra Jadeja in for Ravichandran Ashwin.

But importantly, if India bat first in Brisbane, they have to score 300, it's as simple as that. You need to at least score 300 to stay in the game. I think India will bounce back.

• India In Australia, 2024-2025