A beatable Australian side

At first glance, it is striking to see just how much the Australian side has changed. Only four members of the 2008 party have played Test Cricket in India before - Hayden, Ponting, Katich and Clarke. Katich is currently in India as Captain of the Australia A side. Four of his colleagues from that squad will return to India with the Test squad - 36 year old leg spinner Bryce McGain (an IT professional who turned professional cricketer at age 35, made his first class debut in 2001-02), two left arm pacemen - Peter Siddle and Doug  Bollinger, and the off spinner Jason Krejza. Krejza's first class record suggests that he is the least fancied of the Australian bowlers and that he can also bat a bit, with four first class fifties and a batting average of 24.

This Australian side has a peculiar balance and the make up of the squad, with Shane Watson being picked, suggests that Australia may play five bowlers. Simon Katich has forced his way back into the Test team by scoring over 1500 runs in the 2007-08 First Class season un Australia. Katich offers Ricky Ponting some flexibility. He has opened the batting for Australia in ODI cricket, and i would not be surprised to see him open the batting with Hayden, thus allowing Australia the luxury of playing Shane Watson and Brad Haddin at 6 and 7 respectively, followed by four specialist bowlers.

In the bowling department, it is unlikely that Australia will play two spinners, unless the wicket is a rank turner like the Mumbai wicket of 2004 was. The four specialist bowlers are likely to include Lee and Clark and one of the three left arm pacemen. Mitchell Johnson was steady with the ball in Australia earlier this year (16 wickets at 33.12) and faded as the series progressed.

For once, it is possible to suggest that atleast on paper, India and Australia look reasonably evenly matched. India are not hopelessly outmatched in the pace bowling department, and even with Kumble showing clear signs of aging, India still have the edge as far as spin bowling goes. Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have to bat above his Test Match ability to match Haddin (5637 First Class runs at 41.14 with 10 centuries and 32 half centuries).

India will need their middle order men to fire, and their bowlers to bowl consistently well at the Australian batsmen. At this point in their careers, there are no secrets to be learnt by India about Ponting or Hayden or Katich or Clarke. They have all played plenty of Cricket against each other. The one battle that i am keenly looking forward to is the Australian new ball attack's method against Virender Sehwag. I suspect that it will be Clark and not Lee who will pose the most potent threat to the Najafgarh Nugget.

This is probably the last series in which Tendulkar, Laxman, Dravid and Kumble will face their fiercest adversaries. It would be nice if they could sign off with a series victory.