Taking the glass-half-full outlook to Australia’s Perth humiliation

The aftermath of Australia’s 295-run defeat to India hasn’t been pretty for the home team.

From calls that the cliff has arrived for aging stars to experts demanding severe selection changes, the Australian cricket community hasn’t responded well to being beaten so easily by India in conditions that were meant to suit Pat Cummins’ side.

While Australia’s performance was bitterly disappointing and well short of what they would have been expecting after the first couple of sessions on Day 1, perhaps we should cut this group some slack and put some faith in them redeeming themselves, at least in Adelaide.

As most have, in many cases, rightly responded with doom and gloom to the first Test result, we’ll instead take a look at why Aussie fans shouldn’t be giving up all of their hope just yet.

Conditions, conditions, conditions

Australia did not get any help whatsoever with the conditions in Perth. While that’s a bit of a cop-out, everything that could go wrong, did, in regards to when Australia was batting and bowling.

Firstly, India won the toss and chose to bat, and while they were bowled out on Day 1, the Aussies were made to bat during the toughest period on Day 1 with light fading as stumps neared.

The Perth pitch suited Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc early on Day 1, but it suited no one more than Jasprit Bumrah and the Indian attack when it was still carrying and seaming sideways in the third session, with seven wickets falling in a disastrous period.

With the bat, the conditions flattened out immediately on Day 2 – unfortunately, Mitchell Starc (26 off 112) and Josh Hazlewood (7 off 31) were the batters that got to stick around during that period. If it was Travis Head and Steve Smith instead, we could be looking at a completely different game.

India then batted throughout Day 2 when batting was easiest and they did so brilliantly thanks to Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul, with Virat Kohli then cashing in during Day 3.

When Australia batted again, it was towards the end of play and it’s no surprise that the only time the home side looked comfortable out in the middle was with the sun out in the first couple of sessions on Day 4 – even with variable bounce coming into the equation.

If they get the better of conditions in Adelaide, particularly with doing the bulk of their batting during the day against the pink ball, then it’ll go a long way to securing victory.

All of India’s x-factor players produced big

This Australian side doesn’t have many x-factor players with David Warner now out of the equation.

While Travis Head, and to a lesser extent Mitch Marsh, are now probably those that can take the game away from the opposition in one session, the scary fact is that India has three of them.

In Perth, all three of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jasprit Bumrah and even Rishabh Pant hit big.

Jaiswal was immense in the second dig with 161, Bumrah took 8/72 across the Test with some incredible spells of bowling while Pant chipped in for a critical 37 on Day 1 when most of his other teammates couldn’t put bat on ball.

Even if Australia contains one or two of these players in Adelaide, India won’t be the same prospect that they were at Optus Stadium.

Could it be rust?

Many forget that this Aussie side hasn’t played Test cricket since early March – that’s longer than eight months.

While the side would have prepared as well as they could have in the nets and in the Shield competition ahead of the Perth Test, nothing prepares players for five-day international cricket as well as the format itself.

Although India came to Australia on the back of a 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand earlier this month, at least they could see where they were going wrong and were able to resolve some of their issues in the weeks in between both contests.

Australia’s pink-ball Test record

The next match in Adelaide is a day/night Test, a format Australia has an 11-1 record in.

While they lost their last pink ball clash against the West Indies in Brisbane, they’ve been largely dominant in this format of Test cricket otherwise. They also beat India by eight wickets the last time the teams met under lights in the game’s longest format in 2020.

While the pink ball favours seam bowling and will make things tough for the top order, the middle order of Travis Head, Mitch Marsh and Alex Carey as well as the experienced bowling quartet still look seriously solid and shouldn’t have any queries surrounding their place in the team.

Australia’s most out-of-form batter Marnus Labuschagne also averages 63.85 with four of his 11 Test tons coming against the pink ball.

Perhaps this will be the perfect opportunity for our No. 3 to bounce back.

There’s a change selectors can make which is somewhat proven against India

If Labuschagne fails again and his spot in the team truly becomes untenable, there’s an option that selectors can go to.

While he's a player who hasn’t dominated Test cricket previously, Marcus Harris is a top-order option with a pretty strong record against India and Jasprit Bumrah.

From his previous 10 innings against India, Harris averages a solid 33.44 with two 50s. He’s also only been dismissed in single digits once against this opposition and has only lost his wicket twice to Jasprit Bumrah.

Even though those stats don’t jump off the table, you’d absolutely take any of Australia’s top three averaging more than 30 this series the way they looked against the Indian attack in Perth.

A Harris inclusion would also allow Nathan McSweeney to get a chance in his preferred position at No. 3, provided it’s Labuschagne who drops out.

The second Test between Australia and India in Perth begins in Adelaide on Friday, December 6 – listen LIVE on SEN and the SEN app.