Injuries in Aussie camp give advantage to India
With an absolute humdinger of an opening match, the India-Australia series couldn’t have started on a better note. Will the second game whip up more drama? Well, it already has, as fortunes have swung in diametrically opposite directions for both the teams. While the tourists are grappling with a spate of injuries to their strike bowlers, hosts’ batting line-up has got a shot in the arm with the return of Yuvraj Singh.
India
Yuvraj’s return will be the force-multiplyer that the team had been waiting for. His presence will not only add solidity to the middle order but also give Dhoni a bowling option for the fifth bowler’s slot.
The middle-order collapse during the batting powerplay in Vadodara must be still rankling in the collective psyche of the team and the boys must be badly wanting to get it right this time around.
The opening combination of Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar is due for a big one. A good start will set it up nicely for the batsmen to follow though building an innings and putting a commanding total will be crucial. And this is where the batsmen will have to be careful with their shot selection. In the opening match Virat Kohli and Dhoni got a start but they didn’t convert it into big knocks. This is one area where the Men in Blue will have to look into besides fielding, which has been rank ordinary in the recent past.
Bowling a nagging line and length will be crucial for the medium pacers. Ashish Nehra needs to be supported on the other end by some penetrative bowling. Ishant Sharma may be a certainty but he should pitch it up and bowl wicket-to-wicket. However, for the third medium-pacer it’ll probably be a toss up between Praveen Kumar and Munaf Patel. Harbhajan Singh will have to get his line right; he’s always been effective whenever he has bowled an off-stump line and given more air to the ball. The bowlers will have to take wickets at regular intervals, if the team is hoping to win.
Australia
Injuries must have left the Aussie camp little shaken and stirred. Their wrecker-in-chief Brett Lee has been ruled out of the match; replacing his experience and guile will be difficult.
If Mitchell Johnson plays the match then Lee will have to be replaced by either Doug Bollinger or Ben Hilfenhaus. John Hopes, who has been ruled out because of hamstring injury, will most likely be replaced by batsman Shaun Marsh.
In the first match, their plan of building partnership had paid off wonderfully. Ponting’s boys will like to carry on the good work. Another plan will be not to give any wicket to Harbhajan.
Being the champion side that it is, the bench strength cannot be taken lightly. The young players will come out with their guns blazing and going by the last match one should expect them to stand up and be counted.
Pitch
The curator believes that the track is full of runs, but dew factor will play a crucial role at night. Bowling will be difficult and that’ll make it easy for the side batting second. The two captains are likely to opt to field first after winning the toss. To negate the affect of dew factor, super sopper may be used during the intervals.
Probable Eleven
India: Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Suresh Raina, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Harbhajan Singh, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar/Munaf Patel, Ashish Nehra
Australia: Shane Watson, Tim Paine (wk), Ricky Ponting (capt), Shaun Marsh, Michael Hussey, Adam Voges, Cameron White, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Doug Bollinger/Ben Hilfenhaus, Peter Siddle
