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Australian persisted with the safe option of legspinning allrounder Cameron White in the pivotal third Test against India today.
Rather than taking the more outlandish punt on finger spinner Jason Krejza, captain Ricky Ponting and selector on duty Merv Hughes elected to retain White, whose modest wrist spin did a passable holding job for the tourists in the first two Tests.
Unfortunately for Ponting, though, his team is in need of more than a holding player.
Creating pressure is something the Australian pace attack, when on its game, is exceptionally good at.
Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson have all shown at times in India an ability to keep it tight, and today they did so again in an improved showing on their efforts last week in Mohali.
But on a batsman-friendly first day pitch and under a hot sun, they needed something different to test the batsmen’s heads as well as hands.
Coming on to bowl midway through the afternoon session, White bowled with reasonable accuracy but little bounce and no turn, and was unable to force a mistake from a pair of set and watchful locals.
Once they had found their bearings against White, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir proceeded to gather runs with certainty.
They knew, like almost every batsman who has played against White, that he has no sharp turn or beguiling flight to force an error.
Krejza, meanwhile, sat on the sidelines, pondering his future beyond this tour while wearing the mock baggy green cap devised for non-Test playing squad members.
It is true that his one serious bowl in India was a disaster, the figures of 0-199 from 31 overs in a tour game telling their own story.
Yet Krejza has more weapons than White, turning his off break a considerable distance in the right conditions.
Moreover, he defines himself as a spin bowler.
Had Krejza played at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground, he may well have been seen off with the same ease as White.
But there is also the chance that the pressure of the occasion may have created a diamond in the annals of Australian cricket.
Judging it unlikely, Ponting and Co decided to be safe.
And now they will never know.
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