By Ashis Ray, IANS
Melbourne : Australian captain Ricky Ponting’s remark that the Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch is “very, very damp” – quite logical, given the recent rainfall and limited sunshine in this city – could mean the ball may initially seam and swing in the first India-Australia Test commencing on Boxing Day Wednesday.
But this also means that such conditions will be right up Anil Kumble’s street. The Indian captain’s ability to slide his top spinners through faster than usual has, over the years, trapped the best of batsmen leg before wicket or even shattered their stumps.
Another weapon in this master spinner’s armoury is a leg-cutter, which would be ideal on a seaming track or one with cracks (as in Bangalore in the last Test). It’s a delivery that is capable of startling the Aussies.
Even as Australia have an overwhelming record at home, Ponting admitted, “India have been good opponents in the last few Test series. They have played tough, entertaining cricket. They have good batters and among bowlers,” he said.
He also noted that India’s strength was their batting and seemed to have worked out where they went wrong last time. “When we lost to them in Adelaide (four years ago), I think we realised we made them score runs too quickly. We over-attacked them too much. We would start the series keeping this stats in mind. We are prepared this time. We know where to bowl and have set plan for every batsmen,” he said.
The recent rains and miserable weather is likely to change to a bright and sunny period over the next week and the Indians will be hoping to make the most of it. Even though Indians have hardly any match practise with their warm-up game giving them only 48 overs of batting over two days.
India will need to have their batsmen firing on all cylinders and putting on 400-plus each time to ensure a match.
It looks Rahul Dravid will almost certainly open the innings, with V.V.S. Laxman likely to bat at Dravid’s one-drop position with Yuvraj Singh coming in at number six. Asking Laxman to bat at number three could be a gamble, but the reshuffle could bring the aggressive Yuvraj and Mahendra Dhoni to face the tiring bowlers and an older ball.
India’s bowling will be spearheaded by skipper Anil Kumble plus either three seamers or two such bowlers and off-spinner Harbhajan Singh supplementing him. Curator Tony Ware is craving for at least one day’s uninterrupted preparations to avoid an under-cooked track. The match itself may escape without serious stoppages, but the second and third days are forecast to be cloudy.
In the 1980s and 1990s, pitches at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the world’s biggest and oldest Test venue, got lower – and more unplayable from a batting standpoint – as matches progressed. India, on one such pitch in 1981, beat a full strength Australian side for the first time Down Under.
Four years ago, India allowed the Aussies to draw level at the ground, after taking the lead at Adelaide. This season, the square has tended to favour batsmen in domestic competitions, though left-arm wrist spinner Brad Hogg has reaped some benefit.
India’s tantalising showing in 2003-04 was in the absence of the unerring Glenn McGrath. He may now have retired, but the New South Wales express Brett Lee has taken over at top gear. Mitchell Johnson, left-arm, also moves the ball both ways at high pace. They, together with Stuart Clark and Shaun Tait – if all four play – will pose a torrid test.
But such a quartet will either have to bowl their overs with exhausting rapidity or invite penalties for a poor over-rate. It will be interesting to see if Australia abandon their age-old policy of a balanced attack.
The Indian board has virtually condemned Kumble and his side by giving them only a solitary practice game, which, too, was washed out. This, before taking on the world champions!
Indian cricketers’ inspiration is derived from an indefinable people-player partnership (PPP). The devotion and expectation of Indian supporters, pride in one’s performance and extraordinary reward for success, instil a sense of purpose in the players. It will soon be revealed if the PPP is enough to contain Australia.
Vitally, can the Indian batsmen, having barely overcome jet lag, hold their own without acclimatisation to the potential pace, bounce and movement? If the character of the MCG wicket remains the way it has been this season – in other words, slow and not dissimilar to Indian surfaces – this could reduce the adjustment demanded from the visiting batsmen.
India’s bowling has been weakened by the unavailability of Sreesanth, India’s best bowler in comparable South African conditions last winter, and the mysterious fade out of Munaf Patel.
But the visiting leather merchants are no less experienced than the unit last time around, when a dream performance by Ajit Agarkar shocked the hosts at Adelaide.
Indeed, Kumble should continue to be a handful. But the quicker bowlers have to make an impact if India are to curb the Bradmanesque propensities of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey.
The media conferences held by the rival skippers on the eve of the match were predictably contrasting. Ponting cocky and typically aggressive; Kumble cautious, with a restrained toughness. He who laughs last will laugh loudest!
The teams (from):
Australia: Ricky Ponting (c), Adam Gilchrist, Stuart Clark, Michael Clarke, Matthew Hayden, Brad Hogg, Michael Hussey, Phil Jaques, Mitchell Johnson, Brett Lee, Andrew Symonds, Shaun Tait
India: Anil Kumble (c), MS Dhoni, Rahul Dravid, Sourav Ganguly, Harbhajan Singh, Wasim Jaffer, Dinesh Kaarthick, Zaheer Khan, VVS Laxman, Pankaj Singh, Irfan Pathan, Virender Sehwag, Ishant Sharma, Rudra Pratap Singh, Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh
Umpires: Mark Benson and Billy Bowden
Match Referee: Mike Proctor