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With India losing their No. 1 tag after 4-0 touring losses to England and Australia, questions were asked about the Indian team being kings at home and pussycats outside.
But it got worse when India lost to England at home, when the visiting English spinners got more assistance from the turning tracks than the home bowlers.
With Australia now touring India for four Tests, the country expects India to bounce back strongly against a side missing its experienced campaigners in Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey.
India’s opening duo of Virender Sehwag, who was one of the most feared batsmen of all time, and Gautam Gambhir, who showed his ability to play according to the situation, was one of the reasons for India reaching the No. 1 Test ranking. But since then they have not been in form.
Gambhir has now been dropped after failing to reach three figures in the past three years. Consistent performances by batsmen like Murali Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, and experienced campaigner Wasim Jaffer, made selectors take that decision.
Australian opening pair will hence be more experienced, with Ed Cowan and David Warner likely to open, but lack of knowledge of conditions may favors India.
The middle orders led by the master Sachin Tendulkar and the captain Michael Clarke are very young with the likes of Pujara, Kohli and Jadeja in the Indian squad and Khawaja, Hughes, Maxwell and Henriques in Australia’s. Pujara played a crucial knock in India’s only win against England, and Dhoni and Kohli played against their natural game in the fourth Test to save India from humiliating defeat.
With Sachin scoring an unbeaten century in Irani Trophy the whole middle order looked to be in good touch. If they carry on the same form Indian batting concerns should be solved.
Maxwell’s all-round performance in ODIs against West Indies, and spinner-friendly conditions in India, will help him. Watson coming into the team as a specialist batsmen will reduce pressure on him. Henriques earned his spot in the team as an all-rounder ahead of Dan Christian who had a poor season.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni, skipper of the Indian team, is under the hammer after losing 10 Test matches in his last 14. Their have been many comments on Dhoni’s captaincy as being predictable and defensive. Personally being in good form could help him to get back his captaincy rhythm, but Clarke had been one of the best in the past few years.
Mathew Wade, picked ahead of Haddin as wicketkeeper, was criticised for his sloppy glove work against Sri Lanka in Australia but he impressed with the bat. This series is real test for the southpaw, with spinning tracks in the subcontinent expected to test him.
The main concern for both teams is their spin department. Ravichandran Ashwin, the skipper’s trump card, is going for a lot of runs and finding it tough filling the wickets column. Harbhajan Singh, about to play his 100th Test, is not the bowler as he used to be, and Pragyan Ohja, the best for India against England, has struggled domestically.
On the positive side, Harbhajan bowled good line and length in the Irani Trophy, and got wickets with classic off-spinner deliveries, while Ohja was very consistent in his approach. Dhoni was criticised for using Harbhajan only to contain in his Test against England.
Paying two spinners would be ideal, then, with Ravindra Jadeja a handy third option with his left-arm spin.
Coming to Australia, Nathan Lyon is the spinner who had played a good amount of Test cricket, while Xavier Doherty is generally considered for the ODI team. His containing role was very successful but playing attacking cricket will be a new challenge for him and we have to wait and watch how he delivers.
India’s pace attack is very young, with the likes of Bhubaneswar Kumar and Ashok Dinda led by Ishant Sharma, who came back from injury recently. With Ishant and Kumar being in good form in the series against Pakistan and England, the Indian skipper could use them for impact with the new ball.
Kumar’s ability to swing the ball both the ways at a brisk pace and the ability of Ishant to extract the extra bounce from the track with his height will make this duo threatening even on a flat track. One drawback is the lack of experience, where Zaheer Khan could have been the ideal leader.
Australia’s pace attack is also very young but have proved themselves. Mitchell Starc, who has been in great touch, will be key for the Aussies, who are led by Peter Siddle and Mitchell Johnson.
With players like Jackson Bird and James Pattinson, Australia’s pace bowling line up looks more formidable than their Indian counterparts, but it all depends on the way they adapt to the placid tracks in India.
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