Adelaide again?

If Sydney was a farce, India were fierce at Perth. It’s not often that the last Test of a series involving Australia holds any value, but this time the result at Adelaide, where India won in 2003, could well change the power equations in  world cricket

With two of the three outcomes still possible going into the last Test, the series has set up nicely, isn’t it?

The performance of the Indian side should give them a lot of confidence going into the Adelaide Test. It’s interesting to see both the times facing a sort of selection dilemma for the match.

With all three seamers coming good in Perth, India would be mulling over whether to bring Harbhajan back. And looking at how the Adelaide wicket has played traditionally, I think Harbhajan will have a role to play. That brings us to the next question: should India go in with five bowlers or not?

When you’re 2-1 down in the series, I’d like the captain to take the attacking option. And for me, going in with five bowlers is the attacking option. At Adelaide the first two days are ideal for batting. And in such conditions, you pin your hopes on your top five to do the batting for you.

And if at all, the tail will have a role to play, they showed in Perth that they are not rabbits with the bat.

They have a lot to offer. Anil Kumble, RP Singh and Harbhajan are good to get 30 to 40 runs each, especially when the conditions are good for batting. Kumble has been really positive throughout the series and he will opt for the attacking option.

That brings us to who should be the batsman to be benched. And for me, it’s not that difficult to decide.

Wasim Jaffer might be a passenger anyway as I don’t think he will be able to face Brett Lee’s heat. So it would be the best possible option for him to swap with Irfan Pathan.

Opening the batting with Pathan looks to be the best option if you don’t want to upset the balance too much. Put Pathan at the top of the order. It would mean Rahul Dravid stays at No. 3 and Virender Sehwag takes more responsibilities.

For Australia, Matthew Hayden’s return to the side makes a hell of a difference. He is such an attacking player that the sheer manner in which he bats gives the whole batting order a lot of confidence. And he loves batting at the Adelaide Oval.

It will be interesting to see whether the Indians get swing, and if they do, it will be really interesting to see.

Australians are still pondering over four fast bowlers and I get the feeling that they will bring Brad Hogg in again.

And I don’t think Indians will mind it much. But I would now be plump on using Shaun Tait again. I know he didn’t have a good game in Perth. I believe that the match would have helped him really and with Adelaide being him hometown, I am sure he will have a role to play.

Michael Clarke and Andrew Symonds can do the job as spinners for us.

A lot has been made in India about dropping Sourav Ganguly for the ODI tri-series. It’s a very emotional thing in India, particularly in Kolkata. But I think MS Dhoni
has got it right.

It’s time to start looking ahead for future. I don’t think most of these seniors are going to figure in the next World Cup. And don’t forget that India won the Twenty20 World Cup on the back of the youngsters.

So I think it’s a very good move to bank on them and groom them for future. And
the announcement had to be made in the middle of the Test series. That’s a common practice; even we do it in Australia. It’s a simple matter of logistics.

When you have logistical things like the travel and visa arrangements have to be taken care of, the announcement has to be made in the middle of a series.