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‘I think the rain will dictate… – Adelaide’s chief curator Damien Hough makes huge statement about pitch ahead of 2nd Test match

Adelaide Oval's chief curator Damien Hough makes huge statement about the likely playing surface ahead of the Pink Ball Test cricket match between India and Australia starting on Friday

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With just under 48 hours to go for the massive Australia vs India Test match, the eyes are on the pitch. The last time India played at this venue, the visitors mustered just 36/9 which was their lowest Test total. CricTracker’s Umesh Sharma caught up with Damien Hough who happens to be the chief curator of Adelaide Oval. 

During his chat with Umesh Sharma and CricTracker, Damien Hough was asked a plethora of questions. One of the main questions was regarding the difficulty batters face during the final innings of the game. During the 2020 Test match at the same venue, none of India’s batters could manage to see out the first session of play on the third day. 

Damien Hough, while speaking to CricTracker replied, “It could be, but again the rain will dictate, you know how much we have got it undercovers on day one. Right now we’re really comfortable with our moisture content and the grass and the hardness or the bulk density. We’re really, really happy where it’s at. It doesn’t mean it translates into an outstanding Test match, but it means that we’ve got comfort where things are at right now.”

“Again, if we are undercovers all day, we can't get them off on day one. It pushes it all back, and you guys understand that the weather and mother nature play a key role in how a pitch breaks up as much and the grass might sit up a bit more and might be conducive to fast and seam bowling. It suggests it will do enough all game, hopefully the batters can still make runs. So we’ll have to wait and see. Like I said world-class bowlers, both seam and spin on both sides. So yeah we have to wait and watch how things pan out,” he added.

Adelaide Oval curator Damien Hough looks forward to a great game of cricket

During his exclusive chat with CricTracker’s journalist Umesh Sharma, Adelaide Oval’s curator Damien Hough was asked if there is a chance of yet another batting collapse happening. In 2020, the game didn’t last all five days with Josh Hazlewood running through India’s famed batting order with figures of 5/15. It is to be noted that the 33-year-old is set to miss the game due to injury and Scott Boland is slated to take his place. 

Damien Hough said to CricTracker, “I tried to answer that before, but that came out of nowhere from my side, so I don’t think anyone predicted that India would have capitulated the way they did last time. I think it’s more around real good bowling, good line and length, and I don’t know how many times they played and missed. I think they played and snicked nearly every time so I have put that down as one-off more than anything else. I didn’t walk away from that thinking we got it wrong for the pitch side of things. I was more like, ‘Wow, that was some impressive bowling, and, yeah the pitch is allowed to nibble around,”

“I didn’t think it was excessive, and I don’t think good Test cricket needs to have a contest between bat and ball. Will it do that? I can’t answer that. It they bowl well, who knows? We want the batters to play a role out here, so you know hopefully there will be some good partnerships and good runs made from both teams. We just want it to be an exciting game of cricket and let the players shine,” Damien Hough ended by saying to CricTracker’s Umesh Sharma during his exclusive chat. 

Virat Kohli Pink Ball Test Border Gavaskar Trophy Josh Hazlewood Indian Cricket Team Rohit Sharma
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