CHENNAI: Ravichandran Ashwin or a fourth seamer? It is a question that India will wake up to on Tuesday in Adelaide.
They have reasons to deliberate. The pink ball has a history of favouring the seamers, thanks to the extra-coating of lacquer applied for better visibility.
Of the 16 bowlers who have taken five-wicket hauls with the pink ball, only five are spinners. Among them, Nathan Lyon stands tall. His 28 wickets in seven matches are the second-most for any bowler in day/night Tests behind Mitchell Starc, who at his best is close to unplayable with a pink ball.
Yasir Shah, Devendra Bishoo, Dilruwan Perera and Keshav Maharaj too have five-wicket hauls with the pink ball, but except for the Pakistani spinner, others have not even played more than two matches. While Shah is the only spinner to have two five-wicket hauls to his name in this avatar of Test cricket, Lyon's overall numbers are unparalleled. There is also a reason why Australia fielded him in each of the day/night Tests they have played so far.
The pink ball has the habit of becoming unresponsive after the 30-over mark. In such situations, a one-dimensional attack could end up costing you the game, especially if a team has to bowl two sessions under natural light. This is the period when batsmen have milked runs before becoming more cautious under lights.
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While one bad session with the bat could usually cost teams a Test, it is more pertinent in day/night Tests. Each of the 14 Tests under lights has fetched a result and six of them were won by an innings. Not just in Australia, this has happened in four continents.
This is why Australia have banked on Lyon. Thanks to the presence of Starc, the off-spinner finds the rough to play with against right-handers. A classical off-spinner, who can find both edges, his strike rate of 55.4 in day-night Tests is nearly eight more than his career strike rate of 62.9. It is for this reason that despite having Ashwin in the ranks, India have asked Washington Sundar to stay back, to bowl extensively in the nets.
On the sidelines of the second practice match, Indians created roughs in the nets, to get used to the line Lyon bowls. Though Indians don't have a left-hander in their top-order, Lyon's ability to target both the edges poses a big threat.
"Obviously, I will try to get edges on both sides, catches around the bat. I love footmarks created by Starc. He is pretty pumped up and not only a quality player but also a quality bloke. We have the best bowling attack in the world. So, we should make sure that we do our stuff, challenging the Indian (batters') defence for long periods of time," Lyon said.
So where does that leave India?
They are still contemplating playing seamers. In the lone day/night Test they played against Bangladesh last year, Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja together bowled seven of the 70.4 overs bowled by India.
But Adelaide has been different. History suggests, spinners will have a role and playing Ashwin means the batting will gain depth. They have two more nights to make up their mind.