Chennai, February 22, 2013 – The first Test match between India and Australia saw the visiting side winning the toss and electing to bat.
Clarke: “We’re definitely going to bat first. The wicket looks extremely dry. I don’t think we can prepare a practice wicket this dry. The conditions are very different from what we come across in Australia. We have a young team and that’s the challenge. I hope we can put on a good performance with the bat. The people in Chennai have looked after us like gold, we’ve had great practice wickets here. As announced earlier, we are just going with one spinner in Lyon and three pacers.” Live Commentary
Dhoni: “We would have batted as well. If it turns from Day 1, toss will not have much of an impact but it would have been good to bat first. The preparation has been good. We had a couple of days of practice in Bangalore and here in Chennai. We got the center wicket practice which we love a lot. We have put in a lot of effort and hope it shows. We have a good mixture of youngsters and experienced players. Shikhar Dhawan, Dinda, Ojha and Rahane are not playing today.” Live Score
Teams:
India (Playing XI): Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Sachin Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni(w/c), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Ishant Sharma
Australia (Playing XI): Ed Cowan, David Warner, Phillip Hughes, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke(c), Matthew Wade(w), Moises Henriques, Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon
India vs Australia first Test: A clash between India’s spinners and Oz pacers
Something unusual happened on the eve of the first Test between India andAustralia in Chennai. The Indian team management confirmed that at least one player, Harbhajan Singh, would surely play the first of the four matches beginning on Friday.
In a departure from the long established practice of keeping the playing XI under wraps until the toss, Harbhajan, 32, was sent to address the media only because he was confirmed in the playing XI. The seasoned spinner was told on Thursday morning that he would be playing his 100th Test match, almost 15 years after making his debut. In 99 Tests, he has captured 408 wickets, 90 of which have come against Australia. Surely, India has made its intentions clear that it would rely on spin to topple the Australian cart.
It remains to be seen if India would pick both off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and leftarmer Pragyan Ojha, along with left-armer Ravindra Jadeja, or just two of the three would give company to Harbhajan.
Mahendra Singh Dhoni will have the advantage of knowing the Australian XI though. Australia on Wednesday named the team, selecting three fast bowlers -Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc and James Pattinson – all-rounder Moises Henriques and a lone spinner in Nathan Lyon.
Looking at the larger picture, it looks the battle would be between Indian spinners and the Australian pace attack.
Dhoni didn’t turn up for the captains’ press conference, and Harbhajan didn’t speak on the likely team combination.
However, considering the grassless MA Chidambaram Stadium pitch – and Dhoni’s well-known penchant for spinners and spinfriendly pitches at home – the bowling attack would surely be packed with slow bowlers.
The focus will be on Sachin Tendulkar too. His failure in the series against England led to talks of his retirement. He did hang up his boots from the ODI format, but warmed up for the current series with some fabulous knocks in the domestic circuit. He struck two centuries for Mumbai and showed intent of getting back to form for the Tests.
As of now, Vijay, who didn’t score a half-century for nine innings before being dropped after the first Test in the West Indies in July 2011, looks ahead in the race, not just because Chennai is his home city but due to his 12-Test experience.
Sehwag, who has also been going through a form slump, would look to score big. The middle order -Cheteshwar Pujara, Tendulkar, Virat Kohli, Dhoni and Jadeja -will have to fire to raise hopes of a series win.
India will also try to cash in on the relative inexperience of the Australian players in India. Only three – Clarke, Shane Watson and Siddle – have previously played a Test match in India. But that is only on paper. The Australian play their cricket the hard way and the Indians should expect no let up this time too, despite the lack of experience in hot and humid conditions in this country.
