Adelaide: Perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Test cricket is the pitch. In every other sport, both teams have an even playing field.

The same conditions - the biggest difference could perhaps be that the direction of the wind changes. But that's about it.

However, Test cricket is complex. You read the pitch wrong and you have five days to regret it. At the Adelaide Oval, the imperfect art of reading the pitch becomes even more of a punt because of the pink ball and day-night Test. The ball tends to swing more under lights and the pitch tends to quicken up later in the evening. The best time for batting is when the match begins in the afternoon and the best time for collapsing is the twilight hour.

But Adelaide Oval Head Curator Damian Hough is hoping that his team has managed to do its job well for the second Test starting on Friday.

"All we do is try to produce a pitch that provides an even contest between bat and ball," said Hough on Wednesday. "Both teams have elite bowlers, world-class bowlers. We've seen enough day-nighters to know that if you get a new rock under lights with two new batters in, then it can be very tricky. The teams obviously play that game and adapt and are quite tactical when they do that. If there's an opportunity to get the new ball under lights, it'll be tricky.

"If they don't, which the Shield pitch showed, if you didn't get the new ball under lights and you had a couple of set batters in, you're able to see through some night-time cricket."

The nature of the pitch changes throughout a game and no one pitch remains the same. So, trying to predict what it will do isn't easy. But the Adelaide pitch usually has some good runs in it as well and history suggests that spinners play a role here.

"Test matches should see a change throughout the course of the four or five days. Drop-in pitches are a bit more challenging, there's no doubt about that, because they hold together so well," said Hough. "Traditionally in Adelaide, it should do enough with the new ball for the whole game and it still should grip into that grass and bounce and spin for the whole game. But as the ball gets older, hopefully the players, the batters, can use the park. There are so many things that come and go. It could be the ball that you get, it could be the conditions, what was the weather like, the winds, all of that."

The one thing that always used to send a shiver down the spine of many Indian friends is how much grass there is on the wicket, and Hough had a clear answer for that as well.

"Six mm," said Hough. "It is 7 mm right now but on game day, it will be 6 mm. Nothing different from our side (in terms of preparation). So probably in 2015, yes, it was definitely different. We left more grass there to protect the ball. But now we're thankful how we have the same preparation techniques. Same for first-class cricket, same for Test cricket."

As if the pitch and the twilight weren't enough of a challenge, the first day of the Test may see some rain too.

"It's wet. Friday looks like it could be thunderstorms, which is a bit unique for Adelaide this time of year," Hough said. "I'm not sure exactly on the timing of those storms coming through, but we're expecting to pull covers a bit on Friday. Hopefully it clears out on Saturday morning... then it should be good for the remainder of the Test."

The rain and the moisture it brings could add another variable that the teams will have to factor in. It could even make batting first just as perilous as batting under the lights usually is. All in all, it could set things up for an exciting day of Test cricket, and if that does happen, no one will be complaining.