PREVIEW OF INDIA-AUSTRALIA TEST SERIES

As Sunny said recently, whether there is a risk of overkill of India-Australia contest? May be he is right since the gap between this series and previous one at beginning of this year is small.

It is going to be a battle between the team which is in transition and a team that is going to start transition.

Aussie Pace Attack vs Indian Batsmen

There is no McGrath. Indians can have a sigh of relief. Even last time when both the sides met, McGrath was not there. India lost that series down under due to failure of tail-enders to last for 7 more deliveries. Even without McGrath, the pace attack of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson is dangerous. Infact they are the best pace bowling attack at the moment along with Steyn & Co.

Rahul had a horrible time against Mitchell Johnson last time. Rahul needs to be positive and he has to maintain strike rate of atleast 50 per 100 balls at the same time he has to do what he does the best (to keep one end intact). India after a long time has two good openers, Sehwag and Gambhir, at the top. India’s performance would be proportional to their contribution. Both Laxman and Sourav had not so good outing in their recent first-class matches. Sachin is coming back from injury and he had no outing in real match situation for now. In terms of preparation, as an India’s supporter, I am little worried though one hear that they being involved in lot of net practices. In past, Sachin has produced great knocks coming back from injury. For VVS, it is against his favorite opposition so he must be licking his lips. For Dada it is his farewell series. These things will be motivating for these guys. I hope Indian batsmen will not falter against part timers like Michael Clarke or Cameron White.

Indian Bowling vs Aussie Batsmen

In Zaheer and Ishant, our pace attack looks good. There is an air of confidence about their prospects in this series. Then we have new look Munaf Patel. Though he may not be in starting XI, incase of any injury to Zaheer or Ishant Indians need not worry. Proteas comfortably handled the spin duo of Kumble and Harbhajan few months back. The spin duo, especially Kumble, had a bad series against Lankans though Bhaji was amongst the wickets. Australian batsmen struggled against our spinners in the tour games. Whether any two of Mishra, Piyush & Ojha will be a better option than combination of Kumble & Bhaji? Kumble & Bhaji are fighters and I hope they will bounce back. Their performance in Irani Trophy should give them confidence.

Hayden struggled in the tour games and he must be little scratchy. Both Hussey and Ponting had good outing in the tour game against BPXI. The presence of wicket-keeper batsmen Haddin, all-rounders Shane Watson and Cameron White lends strength to their middle order. Then there is Michael Clarke who can play spin better than any of his team-mate. Simon Katich should be the other opener with Hayden.

Overall it should be an even contest between the two sides. It is the last time fab five are playing together. I hope they emerge victorious.