Adelaide [Australia], December 3 : Ahead of Australia's pink-ball Adelaide Test against India, Aussie wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey said that the group is not expecting India's 36 all-out debacle from the previous pink-ball Test at the same venue back in 2020 to be repeated, while backing his team to bounce back following a humiliating loss at Perth.
The Adelaide test will kickstart from December 6 onwards, with India heading into the game with a mental and physical edge over the Aussies who were left devastated by Bumrah's bowling and captaincy during a 295-run loss at Perth's Optus Stadium in the first Test.
However, the visitors would be looking to overcome the ghosts of the 2020 Adelaide pink-ball Test, which saw them being bundled out for their lowest Test score of 36 runs, starting that series on a nightmarish note. Pat Cummins (4/21) and Josh Hazlewood (5/8) had run riot over the Indian line-up in the second innings, getting an easy target of 90 runs to chase.
Speaking about the possibility of Australia repeating such a fantastic bowling performance, Carey said during the pre-match press conference, "There are obviously amazing days in cricketing history. But no, we do not go out there expecting to do that again. We have a process and a plan and try to execute.
And whatever happens, happens. But I was not here for that test match. I tried to get in, but I missed it. It happened too quickly. But yeah, we are excited. I think we should take a lot and we do take a lot of confidence out of our record with pink ball cricket. It does not mean we will have the success. But I think our methods, our style of play and the experience we have in this group will bounce back from Perth," he added.
The keeper-batter also dismissed any rumours of division within the team, which picked up some steam after Hazlewood's comments about batters' performances during the Perth Test. Carey said that the team is united and batters do want to perform better.
"Look, I think if you ask the batters, we all want to perform better. And, you know, cricketers, you go out there to score 100. And if you do not do that, I think you are at times disappointed. But, yeah, we are a very united group. We all do get the opportunity to bat. And we are all keen to continue to put those big runs on the board. And I trust the guys to do that. So, excited for them to see them here with another opportunity," he said.
The notion of a divide within the Australia camp began when seasoned pacer Josh Hazlewood, on Day 3, said, "You probably have to ask one of the batters that question. I'm sort of relaxing and trying to get a bit of physio and a bit of treatment, and I'm probably looking mostly towards the next Test and what plans we can do against these batters."
After hearing Hazlewood's comment, former Australia star Adam Gilchrist gave his take during Fox Sports coverage and said, "That to me tells me there is potentially a divided change room I don't know if there is. I might be reading too much into that."
Speaking about the team's tactics to tackle Indian pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, Carey said that, "He is obviously a fantastic bowler, has been for a number of years. Our batters are world-class as well (10:15) and always find ways to come up with solutions. And we have had a look at him now, so hopefully we can combat that first, second spell, get him bowling a little bit deeper in the innings. With an older ball, (10:31) we saw Travis (Head) sort of a bit of a counterpunch. "
"So I trust our batters will find a way. Not only Bumrah, they played a couple of other debutants (Harshit Rana and Nitish Kumar Reddy) who bowled well as well," he added.
Carey said that the reaction to the first Test loss has been quite big and contrasts with what the team has been feeling.
"But we know over four, five test matches, we keep rocking up and playing our style of cricket. We will have the success. We have had that success to, I guess, call upon the method does work. So, you know, like I said, we are calm internally. We are excited to get back out and play and play a better style of cricket. And we have got that opportunity come Friday," he signed off.
Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster
India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal.