Alive and kicking

Captain Ricky Ponting, never one to shy away from disturbing a hornet’s nest, chose to focus on the factors outside the field of play that India will have to contend within the next five days.

“The Gautam Gambhir issue has blown up quite a bit, and that’s going to take some attention away from the cricket. It’s Sourav Ganguly’s final match, VVS Laxman’s 100th Test, Anil Kumble has just retired, and they have a new captain. There are a number of things the Indian players will be thinking about going into this game,” Ponting said during his mandatory pre-match engagement with the media.

Opening choice

To top everything, an intricate problem has landed on Dhoni’s already overflowing plate — whom to send out as opener in the absence of Gambhir, India’s man in form this series whose reckless elbow into Shane Watson’s midriff in Delhi is now costing him dearly.

The selectors have picked Tamil Nadu’s M Vijay as a replacement — a bit of a surprise pick ahead of Wasim Jaffer. Vijay is fresh from a knock of 243 in the Ranji Trophy match against Maharashtra, and is almost certain to play the Test though Dhoni couldn’t say for sure if he would rely on the newcomer in this crucial match.

“I think we’re going in with M Vijay. As of now, he will open the innings,” the skipper said, before hastening to add: “It is a tentative thing that M Vijay will open the innings. But you can have a last-minute change of plans. These things happen.”

Another option for the Indians would be to ask Rahul Dravid to open, with S Badrinath batting in the middle-order. But Dravid’s form and health might militate against that. The former India skipper has been badly out of touch over the last year, scoring only in patches and looking a fair distance away from the long, meditative innings he’s known for. He also missed practice on Tuesday due to flu, though Dhoni was confident that he would be fit in time.

At least the four Indian bowlers —

Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh and Amit Mishra — select themselves on a hard, brown wicket that is expected to support both turn and reverse swing.

Jason’s chance

For the Australians, the biggest problem has being settling on a suitable bowling combination, not because they have an abundance of riches, on the contrary, because none of their options seem to have worked effectively so far.

“We probably have to have a look at the make-up of our bowlers,” Ponting conceded. “Looking at the wicket yesterday, we have to consider playing (off-spinner) Jason Krejza in this game. It looks like a very bare wicket that will probably spin later in the game. I guess it will come down to choosing between one of the fast bowlers or Cameron White.”

The Australians have indeed recovered the spring in their strides after managing to hold on for a draw in Delhi, evident from the way Brett Lee has been strutting around with a smile these days despite his pedestrian tour so far. Up until Mohali, the Aussie paceman was clearly struggling but at the Kotla, where he still picked up only three wickets, he looked a lot more like himself — aggressive, nippy, smarter with his use of short deliveries and more in control of his line.

“I was happy with what we achieved out of the Dehi Test match. The cricket that we played showed that we are improving and no matter what the conditions,” Ponting said, before sounding out a warning.

“This is probably as big a Test match as a lot of us have played. Being one-nil down in a series with one match to play is a position that a lot of us haven’t been in before. We pride ourselves on playing well in big games. It’s a great opportunity for all of us to stand up and do what we’re known for.”