Australia will look to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by winning the third Test at MCG.
Trailing 0-2 in the four-match series, India are staring down the barrel and need to come up with something special in the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne, if they are to keep their chances alive of leveling the series. On the other hand, hosts, Australia, will be eager to extend their winning run at home and regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Australia:
The hosts were given a close run by India in the opening Test in Adelaide, but the Aussies were a lot more clinical in the second Test, winning by a comfortable margin in Brisbane to go 2-0 up in the series. Despite the back-to-back wins, they do have some concerns with the batting line-up.
David Warner, after his twin hundreds in the opening Test, fell cheaply both times at the Gabba. While Chris Rogers managed to find form with two half-centuries, Australia will be hoping that he gets a big one. They will also expect Shane Watson, who has had a poor series so far with the bat, to do better, while Shaun Marsh and Brad Haddin will also be under focus.
Steven Smith's hundred and Mitchell Johnson's blistering innings of 88 helped the hosts recover from a top-order collapse in the first innings in Brisbane. Had it not been for them, Australia would have conceded a big lead to India and things might have panned out differently. Smith will be hoping that such a thing does not happen again and will expect the top-order to deliver.
The Australian bowlers toiled in humid conditions and most of them looked off-colour in the first innings in Brisbane, barring debutant Josh Hazlewood, who picked up a five-wicket haul. Starc was not at his best, Johnson did not fire while a hamstring injury sidelined Mitchell Marsh.
However, an inspired spell from Johnson in the second essay tilted the match completely in favour of the home-team. Nathan Lyon, although, not as effective as he was in Adelaide, did pick up a few wickets and troubled the Indian batsmen at times. The Aussies will be banking on the bowlers to come up with a more disciplined performance at MCG, and expect the pacemen to bowl with a lot of fire like they did the second time round in Brisbane.
India:
They have been on top quite a few times in this series, but what has hurt India is that when the pressure is on them, they have not been able to respond appropriately and have failed to come out victors in crunch situations.
Murali Vijay extended his fine form with a century in Brisbane, while Ajinkya Rahane too contributed with a useful knock. However, there was not much support from the rest of the front-line batters, which meant that India could not bat Australia out of the game, despite having them under pressure.
In the second essay in Brisbane, it was a meek surrender as they were blown away by Johnson's pace. Shikhar Dhawan, after failing in his first three outings in Australia, found some form with a knock of 81. Virat Kohli, after a superb outing in Adelaide, failed to deliver in the second Test, while Cheteshwar Pujara has not been able to convert his starts. Skipper, MS Dhoni, too looked a bit out of sorts, while Rohit Sharma seems completely out of place in the Test arena.
To add to the batting woes, reports of a rift between Dhawan and Kohli has not done the team any good. The batsmen have been good in patches, but a collective effort is required on their part, if the visitors are to fathom any hopes of making a comeback in the series.
India's bowling has been wayward, undisciplined and their plans have looked out of place on quite a few occasions. They managed to take only 12 Australian wickets in Adelaide, while they allowed Smith to bat with the tail and post a total in excess of 500 in Brisbane, having reduced the hosts to 247/6 at one stage.
The pace bowlers - Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Varun Aaron and Mohammed Shami - have been erratic in both Tests, wavering a lot in their line and lengths and this has meant that the Australian batsmen have been able to get away despite being tested a few times. R Ashwin, who returned for the second game, did not do anything substantial either. Hitting the right areas, keeping the run-flow in check and sustaining the pressure on the batsmen - these are the basic duties as a bowler - which India must work on.
Team News:
The Australians will be pleased that Ryan Harris is fit and he is likely to be drafted into the eleven in place of Starc. Mitchell Marsh's injury has meant that 25-year-old Queenslander, Joe Burns, is likely to get an opportunity to showcase his skills in the five-day format. Watson and Warner too are expected to play after they were down with fitness issues.
As far as India are concerned, they may bring in Suresh Raina in place of an out-of-form Rohit. If Bhuvneshwar Kumar is fit for the game, he might replace Umesh. It will be a big boost for the visitors if Bhuvneshwar plays as the 24-year-old looked by far the best bowler in England earlier this year and was also consistent with his line and lengths.
Pitch conditions:
Since the advent of drop-in pitches, the tracks at MCG have tended to offer tennis ball bounce, with reverse swing playing a key role during the fourth and fifth day.
At times, due to weather conditions, there would be enough moisture underneath the surface for the seamers to take advantage of it. In the 2010-11 Ashes, James Anderson and Chris Tremlett took advantage of it by consistently hitting a good length spot to bowl out Australia for just 98. If such conditions prevail at the start of the game, the captain winning the toss may opt to bowl.
Numbers:
33 - The numbers of years since India won a Test at MCG. They have played 11 matches, lost 8 times won twice while only one match ended in a draw.
14, 6, 0, 25, 72, 19, 0, 31*, 28, 6, 43, 6, 32 and 0 - Rohit Sharma's scores since scoring back-to-back centuries against West Indies in his debut Test series.
Quotes:
"If it requires a little bit of banter to get the other person talking, that's what is going to happen. I like to go at them, to try and get them to bite back at me when I go out there and bat. At the moment it's working": David Warner.
"There's plenty of areas we're showing improvement, but we're still not crossing the line. It's exciting to see the youngsters putting in a fight. It's just a matter of time. It will turn out to be a very consistent side":MS Dhoni.
No comments:
Post a Comment