Fast Forward

But Cox stresses that Kreza and McGain are not in the squad to make up the numbers. 8220;These guys are here after performing very well in domestic cricket. They had good summers at home. Now they have a chance to make their place in the senior side.8221;

So the best team in the world is clearly short on variety but the Australians are unconcerned. They8217;ve often been accused of being monotonous. The focus for them is mainly on playing spin 8212; Anil Kumble, Harbhajan Singh and perhaps even a third 8212; rather than give the series a spin of their own.

SPEED DEMONS
There is a method to the Australian theory. At home, India are capable of squashing spin, whether it is Shane Warne or Daniel Vettori. It was way back in 1999 in Chennai that Saqlain Mushtaq single-handedly sent the hosts hurtling towards defeat. Since then, spinners have only troubled the Indians in patches to earn their five minutes of fame 8212; Raymond Price, Monty Panesar, Paul Harris. The staid Ashley Giles exploited Sachin Tendulkar8217;s tentativeness against left-arm spinners, bowled a negative line to keep runs in check, and Michael Clarke made hay on a dustbowl in Mumbai.

But it8217;s been the faster bowlers who have forced them on the back foot repeatedly. Even on home soil. Whether it was in 2004, when Australia registered a historic series victory, or the last series at home, when South Africa8217;s Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Kallis beat the hosts inside three days in Ahmedabad, it was the quicks who did India in.

Cox nods in agreement. 8220;You don8217;t need spinners to win a series in India. When we were in India last, it was the pace bowlers who won us the series 8212; Gillespie, McGrath and Michael Kasprowicz. Warne was there but he had minimum effect. We8217;ll have the opportunity of looking for spinners but we8217;re looking for pacers right now to do the job,8221; he says. And in Brett Lee, Stuart Clark and Mitchell Johnson, Australia have an attack that sizes up in merit and potency.

Former India coach Anshuman Gaekwad makes a valid point. 8220;There8217;s a reason why India struggle to pacers at home. It8217;s because the bounce in India is uneven that makes the pacers even more dangerous. And that8217;s the reason why we tend to play the quick bowlers better in South Africa, Australia and England, because they have even bounce,8221; he says.

Gaekwad, himself a fine player of fast bowling, believes that Indians don8217;t need to try anything drastically different against Australia. 8220;This Indian team are experienced to handle all situations. They just need to apply themselves. Australian players can never be taken lightly, even a rookie in the national side has played a lot of first-class cricket, so we can8217;t even take McGain lightly,8221; he says.

WICKET TALK
Any talk of India vs Australia can never be complete without a debate on the nature of wicket. There8217;s a huge fixation, amongst players, administrators, even the common man, over the 22-yard strip 8212; especially after Nagpur, 2004, when a lively, green track helped Australia capture the 8216;final frontier8217;.

The term 8216;home advantage8217; is slowly losing its relevance, just like 8216;benefit of doubt goes to the batsman8217; is going out of vogue with the advent of umpiring referrals. Former chairman of the BCCI8217;s pitches committee, Venkat Sundaram, says cricketers have a habit of demanding a wicket of their preference, and alleges that Indians crib the most.

8220;What home advantage are we talking about?8221; he asks, rather sharply. 8220;Isn8217;t it good that the Indians have a roaring crowd to back them, that they8217;re getting daal-roti, what else do they need? Why do we have to manipulate wickets to get results? Kumble and Harbhajan cannot win you matches all the time, and now India have a balanced bowling attack in which seamers are doing well. When India went to Australia, they gave us good wickets, and won. That8217;s why they8217;re the best team in the world. Let8217;s give good wickets. Why can8217;t we lose to a better team?8221; he argues.

India8217;s best series against Australia was in 2001 and the exploits of VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh and Rahul Dravid live on, along with Sachin Tendulkar8217;s blazing second-innings knock in Chennai and Ganguly8217;s captaincy that got under the skin of his counterpart Steve Waugh. It was a dream scenario: The defeat in Mumbai didn8217;t spark panic, the Australian pacers dominated again in Kolkata but the sheer willpower of the batsmen changed the course of the match, and Harbhajan was unplayable in Chennai for all the Aussies except Matthew Hayden.

But in 2004, India couldn8217;t live up to the promise of three years ago. The memories that remain from that series are of the green track in Nagpur, allegedly made because of BCCI8217;s internal politics rather than any cricketing logic, and the contemptuous wicket in Mumbai that crumbled into powder in no time.

It is 2008 now. The core of the Indian team has almost been the same since 2001. This Australia series is perhaps the last, and best, opportunity for the big stars to set an example for the next generation.