FILE PHOTO: Cricket - First Test - Australia v India - Optus Stadium, Perth, Australia - November 22, 2024 India's Jasprit Bumrah appeals for the lbw wicket of Australia's Nathan McSweeney, awarded on review Dean Lewins/AAP Image via REUTERS/File Photo
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - With noses bloodied and pride stung from the pounding in Perth, Australia will look to hit back with the pink ball in the second test against India at Adelaide Oval as the tourists welcome back returning skipper Rohit Sharma.
Australia have had plenty to ponder since their 295-run capitulation in the series-opener, which has been chewed over relentlessly by media and fans.
Few in the home team dressing room have been spared criticism, with preparations, selections and tactics all put under the microscope.
A side injury to frontline paceman Josh Hazlewood -- the best of Australia's quicks in Perth -- has added to the angst and means the hosts will have at least one change to the lineup.
For all that, the players are adamant no one is hitting the panic button just yet.
After all, Adelaide Oval has been a fortress for Australia with a succession of touring teams failing to adapt to the bright lights and swinging pink ball.
The pioneers of day-night test cricket, Australia have never lost a pink ball match at a venue where they blasted India's batsmen out for 36 in the last home series in 2020-21.
Australia can only draw confidence from that record, said wicketkeeper Alex Carey on Tuesday, who was bemused by the public's reaction to the defeat in Perth.
"It's quite a big reaction externally to one test loss," he told reporters.
"Internally we don't feel that."
Some may be feeling the pressure, though, ahead of another examination by India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
Of Australia's top eight batsmen in Perth, only Mitchell Marsh avoided being caught up in Bumrah's eight-wicket blitz.
Australia coach and selector Andrew McDonald dismissed talk of changes to the batting lineup, giving the desperately out-of-form Marnus Labuschagne a lifeline.
Defeat in Adelaide would be a third home test loss in succession for the world champions, a losing streak last seen in 1988, and could hasten succession planning for an ageing team.
ROHIT'S RETURN
The same concerns had dogged India ahead of the series in the wake of their 3-0 home defeat by New Zealand, but few are talking about Virat Kohli's shelf life following his stirring Perth century.
Droves of Indian fans flocked to the team's nets session at Adelaide Oval on Tuesday to cheer on Kohli and Rohit as they warmed up against Bumrah.
After missing the first test to care for his newborn baby, Rohit will take back the captaincy from Bumrah in Adelaide but may not resume his place at the top of the batting order.
Rohit has made just one fifty in his last 10 test innings and selectors may be reluctant to break up the pairing of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul whose 201-run partnership in the second innings in Perth set India up for victory.
Rohit batted at number four in the pink-ball warmup match against an Australian Prime Minister's XI in Canberra, scoring three.
Shubman Gill, who missed the Perth test after fracturing his left thumb in the lead-up, is also available for selection and will likely return to the top order after scoring an unbeaten 50 in the Canberra tour match.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
