First session should set the tone for the series — Steve Waugh

The Indians say they are here to win. And why not? When an Australian reporter asked the Indian star captain-coach duo of Sachin Tendulkar and Kapil Dev, about their reading of the future, the reply came after a pause, a pause which gave time to both for a meaningful smile before Kapil, in his usual flamboyant manner crackled: “Of course a victory for us. We are here to win all the three Test matches.”

Meaningful smiles were exchanged in the press conference before Tendulkar too echoed his coach’s sentiments: “We have a team of talented players and I see no reason why we won’t do well here.”

The Australiancaptain, much like a man fully aware that the battle has already been won even before the swords have been removed, acted the gracious host and declared:“ We have a lot of respect for the Indians. They are a good team and I won’t be too overconfident. We musn’t forget we lost the last time we played against them.”

Well, that loss was a massive one but happened to be in India where the Indians these days are almost unbeatable. It is record not many teams can boast of. But the same team has an unenvious record of hardly having won anything outside of their home.

Is this team capable of breaking that jinx? Does this team have the talent and the attitude to correct this historical imbalance in India’s Test record?

On paper, no, not against a team which has won the last four Test matches, three at home against a team which is among the strongest in the world. Wasim Akram and his men had the motivation and the talent to beat India in India but against the Australians their famed pace-spin attack failed toput a leash on the batsmen.

Kapil, enjoying his role to the second as the team’s official spokesman, had an answer to this riddle as well. “I would say one should not get carried away. One has to draw a line and know what are ones limitations. Do not overreach. Perform within your limitations and a lot of problems would be solved, be it in bowling or batting.”

The message was clear: The Indians are being told, especially the bowlers, not to try and bowl too quick. In fact, Kapil had jocularly remarked that he is planning to wear a shirt written on which will be “pitch up.” But these things are easier done in theory than in practice.

Admittedly, India have in Javagal Srinath, a top notch pace bowler, right there among the fastest in the world today. Even Waugh admitted as much, and in Venkatesh Prasad he has the support of a bowler who can move the ball alarmingly for the batsmen’s safety. And then comes Anil Kumble, who plays on the patience of a batsman and finally wears him off. The question againarises, can the trio produce their best in unison and rattle the Australian batting which, at the moment, appears strong enough to even make a molehill of a mountainous score, that too after reaching the edge of a precipice. For reminder what Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist did to the Pakistanis in the second Test at Hobart.

The problem for India lies in what kind of bowling combination would they like to go in with. The Adelaide wicket has a bit of grass covering but beneath it a few crack can to be seen. If the weather becomes hot and dry again — it was cloudy and cool on Thursday — than an extra spinner can come in handy. The Australians, too, are facing a similar dilemma: whether to leave out Kasprowicz and include the doublepurpose Colin Miller (pace and off spin) in his place or not?

Ironically, the Indian options are very limited on this count as the only other spinner, apart from Kumble in the 17-member team, is off spinner Harbhajan Singh, who was not included in the 12 announced. The Indiansare not going to go in with five bowlers, something they did not do even against New Zealand in India, and in all probability Ajit Agarkar will get the nod and Debashis Mohanty, as usual, should be the 12th man.

The wicketkeeper’s slot was decided yesterday itself, when MSK Prasad was declared fit and as the first choice wicketkeeper for the tour, he was preferred to Nayan Mongia.

Possibly India’s best chance lies in their batsmen — Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly — playing to their full potential. And their best escape route lies in rattling up a huge score and then hoping to limit the Australians.

In the words of Steve Waugh: “the first session of the Test tomorrow should set the tone and tenor for the series.”

Let us see, to begin with, which team scores over the other in that brief period.

The teams:

India (from): Sachin Tendulkar, Sadagoppan Ramesh, Devang Gandhi, Rahul Dravid, Saurav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, MSK Prasad, Ajit Agarkar, Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath, VenkateshPrasad and Debashis Mohanty.

Australia (from): Steve Waugh, Shane Warne, Greg Blewett, Mark Waugh, Damien Fleming, Adam Gilchrist, Michael Kasprowicz, Justin Langer, Glenn McGrath, Colin Miller, Michael Slater and Ricky Ponting.

Umpires: Steve Dunne & Darel Harper

Third umpire: Steve Davis