The long awaited series between India and Australia will get underway
in just a few days time and the anticipation among the public is
building up rapidly along with the hope that the Indians put a stop to
Steve Waugh's winning streak. The verbal sparring between the two
captains, Waugh and Ganguly also has contributed to the excitement.
Waugh has changed his tack immediately upon his arrival in India but
his fast bowlers have taken over from their captain. McGrath and
Kasprowicz have decided to go after the little champion Tendulkar
which in the latter's case might suggest a hint of nerves. In the last
few occasions Kasprowicz was up against Tendulkar, he was carved
mercilessly in both forms of the game. McGrath, on the other hand, is
gearing himself up for the duels against Tendulkar, which of course
will be one of the highlights of the series.
The Australians have surprisingly left out MacGill for this tour which
may make a lot of difference considering that he has been performing
better than Warne in recent times. I am not suggesting that MacGill
should have replaced Warne, but a double leg spin attack would have
been quite something to handle on the Indian turning tracks. MacGill
unlike Warne does not give too much of time in the air and turns the
ball a lot more than Warne. The Indian batsmen have more often than
not done well against Warne for the simple reason he likes to throw
the gauntlet by flighting the ball. The zip and bounce that Warne gets
in Australia will be absent on the slow and low Indian pitches which
will enable the home team batsmen to adjust even if they are deceived
in the air. Colin Miller, the dual-purpose bowler will have a lot of
work to do and he may well end up as the bogeyman for the Indians. A
look into the record books would clearly show that a visiting offspinner has had good times in India and history might repeat itself if
Miller just bowls a good line and length. Remember Gavin Robertson!
The visitors have already been involved in a couple of lead up matches
and their display in those games does not inspire awe. Their batsmen
barring Steve Waugh, Ponting and Hayden have struggled to come to
terms with the slow turning tracks. Mark Waugh has not had a decent
outing so far which only will add to the woes of his twin brother.
Their batting problems apart, the medium pacers Fleming and
Kasparowicz will have tough times, as they are neither consistent like
McGrath nor quick like Brett Lee. However, it would be foolhardy to
infer too much based on the performance of the first two warm-up
games. The Indians have already announced the squad for the first Test
and it does appear that the Australians do not unduly worry them. The
combination favoured by Wright and Ganguly is ideal but the dropping
of a couple of cricketers raised many eyebrows. Sharandeep Singh and
Vijay Dahiya have been dropped despite their good performances in the
last Test they figured. Nayan Mongia is recalled but the captain has
not lavished praise about the stumper's attitude. The assessment was
due to Mongia's reluctance to lead with his chin under crucial
situations being one of the most experienced members of the team. One
wonders what criterion went in favour of the Baroda wicket keeper.
Harbhajan Singh gets a recall based more on a popular demand rather
than on his performances. He has been persisted with for his talent
but this so far has not been translated into performances at the
highest level. Hirwani gets a lifeline after being in the wilderness
for more than four seasons. His inclusion is based on the theory that
a leg-spinner is more likely to win matches than the finger spinner.
Sanghvi the left arm spinner has picked himself into the team with his
good performances in recent times. Overall the team has a good balance
and the captain does have a lot of options to choose from.
Both the teams have decided to bank on experience realising the
importance of this series. What remains to be seen is how well the
experience is utilised in what will be a high-pressure series.
Basically the Australians cope with pressure better than most nations
but they have a lot at stake as they are in search of a Test series
victory to back up the near invincible stature achieved over the last
one year. In a way the Indians are better off starting as underdogs in
the forthcoming series as they have everything to gain. They are in a
similar situation as they were before the start of the ICC Trophy a
few months ago and Ganguly would obviously be delighted if his boys
perform as well as they did in Nairobi. The only difference is that
Test cricket is a different ball game altogether but regardless of
what transpires, it will not be as an easy task for the Australians to
beat India at home.