By IANS
Perth : Australia have retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy winning the first two Tests and India are left to play the remaining two Tests only for their pride, more so after the recent off-field happenings.
The immediate concern of the Indians is to cope with the pace and steep bounce at the Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) ground in the third Test in Perth, starting Wednesday.
Australia have clearly been the better team in the first two matches, notwithstanding some unsavoury incidents involving their players coupled with poor umpiring.
India came up an improved performance in the second Test in Sydney, but that was not enough to stop the rampaging world champions from equalling their own record of 16 straight victories.
Ricky Ponting, who has led the side in all 16 victories, will be keen to beat his predecessor Steve Waugh’s record and emerge as the undisputed leader.
Overall, Ponting’s side has looked a far superior, purposeful and ruthless all-round side than Anil Kumble’s boys, who can justifiably cite a few dubious umpiring decisions for their Sydney defeat after looking like pulling off a draw at various stages of the game.
India might be aggrieved by some umpiring decisions, as borne out by television replays, in Sydney, but the bottom line is that India’s supposedly renowned batting line-up, boasting of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly and V.V.S. Laxman, failed to last out two sessions on the last day of the match. Come to think of it, they failed to deliver in three of the four innings in the two Tests.
In the two Tests so far, the Indians have managed just two centuries and five half-centuries while Australians have smashed four tons and seven half-centuries.
So far, Tendulkar (243 in two Tests), with scores of 62, 15, 154 and 12, has looked the best among the Indian batsmen, followed by Sourav Ganguly (201) and V.V.S. Laxman (197). Rahul Dravid, unfairly forced to open, continues to struggle for form, though he managed a half-century in the second Test.
For the Perth Test, the team composition could change after Virender Sehwag, picked in the Test squad after Gautam Gambhir with a sore shoulder failed a fitness test at the last moment, cracked a whirlwind century against an Australian Capital Territory XI (ACT XI) in a practice game in Canberra last week.
Sehwag has a fine track record against Australia though he was not even among the original probables for the tour. In nine Tests against the Aussies, the ‘Delhi Dasher’ has smashed two centuries, including a superb 195 in Melbourne in 2003-04, and three half-centuries to underline that he is the batsman for the big occasion.
Sehwag’s century against ACT XI, though it came against a none-too-impressive bowling attack, should force the team management to rethink about the opening combination of Dravid and Wasim Jaffer, who, too, is struggling.
Also, Yuvraj Singh, who forced the selectors to pick him with his century against Pakistan in Bangalore, has failed with the bat in Australia.
In the bowling department too, the Australian attack has been much sharper, incisive and aggressive than India. The Brett Lee-led predominantly pace attack has rattled the Indians, except in the first innings at Sydney when the visitors piled up 532 in the first innings of the second Test.
Although the Indians have bowled decently, the loss of pace spearhead Zaheer Khan with an ankle injury after the first Test has not helped their cause. The experience of Zaheer is sorely missed with the remaining medium-pacers being still raw.
Australia, on the other hand, would like to retain the winning XI. Only opener Matthew Hayden is a doubtful starter, nursing a stretched hamstring. Chris Rogers has been added as the 13th player to the squad even as physiotherapist Alex Kountouris continues to work on the in-form Hayden.
“We will continue with the programme on his hamstring and make a decision about Matthew’s fitness and availability much closer to game time,” said Kountouris.
Teams:
India: Anil Kumble (captain), Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wicket-keeper), Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Sachin Tendulkar, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Karthik, V.V.S. Laxman, Yuvraj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, Pankaj Singh and Vikram Rajvir Singh
Australia: Ricky Ponting (captain), Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Chris Rogers, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds and Shaun Tait
Umpires: Billy Bowden (New Zealand) and Asad Rauf (Pakistan)
Match Referee: Mike Procter (South Africa)