Injured Sehwag likely to miss out; India still favourite
However much Ricky Ponting may deny it but the momentum, after two back-to-back victories, is surely with Team India. The world champions, with more than half of their frontline players injured, will have to pull out something extraordinary to reverse the trend.
The momentum may be with India, but it’s not going to be a cake walk for MS Dhoni, as two of his top order batsmen, Gautam Gambhir and Virender Sehwag are injured and doubtful for the Mohali match. But the prospect of reaching the top of the ICC rankings with a victory at Mohali will surely motivate the team to go for a win.
India
What must have given a lot of heart to Dhoni is that the team is combining well; both batsmen and bowlers have started firing. The flash has given way to more sensible batting approach and emphasis is now on building partnerships. We saw that in Nagpur, while India were batting first and later in Delhi when India were chasing a small target.
One thing that’s pleasing to watch is that batsmen are batting according to the match situation. The team will surely miss Sehwag up the order, as he is most likely to sit out because of the ankle injury which hasn’t healed. But the best part about this team is it is no more dependent on any particular player. India have won the last two matches without any major contribution from Sachin Tendulkar’s bat.
Much to Dhoni’s pleasure, Harbhajan Singh came good in the last match. And Mohali being his home turf, he is expected to deliver for he knows the conditions well. Ravindra Jadeja continue his good form with the ball and that’s a big plus for Dhoni. The medium-pacers will find the pitch to their liking as it offers a fair bit of bounce though it’s not as lively as it used to be a few years back. As the ground is not too big, bowling wicket to wicket will produce the desired result. Any width and the batsmen will easily send the ball beyond the boundary.
Gambhir is likely to open along side Sachin and that means it’s going to be a toss-up between Virat Kohli and Dinesh Karthik for Sehwag’s place. Kohli is likely to get Dhoni’s nod as he has done well lately and is a superb fielder to boot.
Australia
It’s not usual for Ponting to find himself on the backfoot. But then it’s not usual either to play without seven of your frontline players sitting out because of injuries. Getting a good start from the openers will be crucial for that will ease off pressure from the not-so-experienced middle order, which only has Michael Hussey to bulwark the Aussie innings. But he is performing the role of the Atlas admirably, carrying the entire burden of the middle order on his shoulders. It’s time for the likes of Cameron Whites and Adam Voges to deliver.
The Aussie pacers will find the pitch much to their liking as it offers both pace and bounce. Perhaps the only way to keep the Indian batsmen quite is by taking wickets; taking early wickets will be crucial. Another crucial aspect will be how well the two spinners bowl. In Delhi, Yuvraj had gone after Adam Voges and this match will be no differect as he is cleary the weakest link.
Pitch
Mohali will be a refreshing change from Kotla as it is known to produce run feast. However, it is also known to help fast bowlers early in the match, so the batsmen will have to give the first few overs to them before going for big hits. All in all, it’s a true wicket, which is full of runs.
Probable Eleven
India: Gautam Gambhir, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Suresh Raina, Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra
Australia: Shane Watson, Ricky Ponting (capt), Michael Hussey, Cameron White, Adam Voges, Moises Henriques, Graham Manou (wk), Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Doug Bollinger
