Rohit Sharma looked like the most lonesome person in the world as he trekked back to the dressing room. It's a good thing they're square of the wicket in Adelaide. Shorter walk.
Australia picked up five wickets in the night session. Were it not for Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland overstepping, they could have got them earlier and built on them further. Sometime in the lead-up to Travis Head's century, it felt like they might be trying something like this. Bowling with the new pink ball in twilight. It's almost the be-all-end-all of this format.
India found themselves in a similar situation on day one when they found themselves with a seven-over-old pink ball at sunset. They were able to take only one wicket.
"Yeah, I think for me if I can just rewind the clock to the first Test match, I thought our lines and lengths were exceptional and I think that was sort of the blueprint for us going into this series," bowling coach Morne Morkel said, "We wanted to bring the stumps into play as much as possible and I felt last night with the ball moving around a little bit we missed that."
In their day-night practice match in Canberra, India discovered that the pink ball responded more when you hit the pitch on a good length. So that's what they did when they got the new ball under lights last night. According to ESPNcricinfo ball-by-ball data, 104 of their first 198 deliveries landed exactly where they wanted it to. But only around 15% of those good-length balls ended up in line with the stumps. Many of the rest behaved a little more erratically than they were prepared for, and by the time they could recalibrate, Australia had seen off the toughest of the conditions to bat in.
"Thirty overs seems to be about the mark at Adelaide Oval that for my whole career, that's the sort of, red ball, pink ball, that's the time where you sort of have to put in and invest and then it feels like the wicket gets slightly easier to bat on." Travis Head, an Adelaide native, said.
Sanjay Manjrekar analyses India's performance with the pink ball
India's second innings began with them 157 runs behind. They were under siege by an amped-up crowd and in the crosshairs of a revved-up bowling unit. Pat Cummins picked up the first wicket and the team-mates he didn't high-five were probably the luckiest people on earth. Those he did might be sneaking ice-packs into their hotel rooms.
Australia also targeted the good-length area. It accounted for 78 of 144 deliveries, and 24% of them posed a threat to the stumps because, ironically enough, in their hands the ball wasn't moving as much. In their hands, it did just enough to beat the middle of the bat, leaving both edges and the stumps in play.
One of them was the ball that had Rohit's name on it, leaving him with two single-digit scores in his first outing after leading India to a 3-0 defeat at home. He moved down to No. 6 so as not to disrupt the opening combination that had won them the first Test. It also offered him a chance - if everything went well - to come in against the old ball, which sounds like the kind of leg up a batter who hasn't had as much time to acclimatise to the conditions might find useful. It could be argued that Rohit dropping down the order was as much a concession as it was strategic. And it still didn't work. He was adjudged lbw off what turned out to be a no-ball on 0, though there was a suggestion of an inside edge and an immediate gesture to review, and bowled neck and crop on 6.
A few days ago Mohammed Siraj spoke about how the pink ball, when it was pitched up, didn't really do a lot. Australia saw virtue in that. They ran the risk of being driven and flicked for four, which Shubman Gill did quite well, but given the vagaries of the pink ball, the magic of the night session and a first-innings lead, they could afford to take those hits. They could gamble in search of what happened in the 18th over when Gill was clean bowled. Starc got that ball to swing in late - and just enough - to beat the closed face of the bat, hurtle though the gap with the pad, and crash into the stumps.
India had to spend a lot of time to home in on the line and length that accounted for the seam and swing. Eighty of their first 198 deliveries were left alone. Australia could settle in a lot quicker. They only allowed India to leave the pink ball 29 times in the window when it tends to do the most damage. This, as much as anything else, has led to the game being where it is. The night session of a day-night Test, it's influence is irresistible.