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Australia may come out aggressively

The good news for Australia is that it has nothing to lose. I expect it to come out really aggressively at Nagpur, knowing that the worst that can happen is a 2-0 scoreline instead of a 1-0 scoreline.

Ricky Ponting must be relieved that the Delhi Test saw most of his batsmen score runs. Now it’s a question of the bowlers getting 20 wickets, and this bowling line-up has the potential to do that even though it has not yet happened in this serie s.

I know that it’s not going to happen, but I would have given a chance to Doug Bollinger, who has the ability to swing and to reverse the ball. However, none of the three pacemen can be dispensed with, so I don’t see any change on that score.

The big news on the eve of the Test is that the one-match ban that was handed out to Gautam Gambhir has been upheld. His absence would be a blow to India as he has been its most prolific run-getter this series.

It means that a debutant will be walking out to open alongside Virender Sehwag, which is not what India would have liked in this Test. However, with Sehwag due for a big score, and all the other batsmen looking in good touch, I think Mahendra Singh Dhoni has that aspect of the game covered.

This will be Dhoni’s first Test as official rather than stand-by captain. However, he has enough experience leading the side, so I doubt there will be any problem for Dhoni. His side will benefit from the return of Harbhajan Singh, whose absence was felt in the last Test. India has been in good form, and should be feeling confident.

The only danger for the host is that it might be feeling that a draw will get it back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy that it lost in this city four years ago. That can be a dangerous mindset but since Dhoni has always been a very positive captain, I doubt that it’s going to happen.

I mentioned in my last article that I find it surprising that only one Test has yielded a result in this series. However, I expect Australia to come out all guns firing on Thursday.

It has good memories of this ground and if it gets into good bowling rhythm, it will challenge the Indian batting line-up that has been dominant so far.

If the Australian bowlers get it right, we will have a very even contest for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, finally.

Gameplan

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