The team is in such high spirits that Dhoni isn’t worried about the absence of Gambhir, Ishant and probably even Laxman; Vijay, Sreesanth certain to play.
As soon as Australia skipper Ricky Ponting walked into the press conference hall at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Friday, the power went off. That instance, perhaps, summed up the fact that this man is no longer the most powerful captain in world cricket. And Ponting is desperately hoping for some divine intervention that can help him register a Test victory on Indian soil. This country, after all, remains his final frontier.
India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, on the other hand, was as cool as a cucumber. Dhoni has quite a few issues to deal with, though. First, India haven’t won a Test match on this ground for well over a decade.
Also Gautam Gambhir and Ishant Sharma have been ruled out of the second Test that begins here on Saturday. Moreover, Mohali hero and Australia’s perennial nemesis, VVS Laxman, is still nursing a sore back. The elegant right-hander may, however, play the Test. He batted for a good 30 minutes with only bowling coach Eric Simmons for company. In fact, Laxman walked into the nets after the entire Australian team had left the stadium.
One could sense that Dhoni isn’t perturbed. Given that India are already 1-0 up in the two-match series, they have effectively retained the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. That cushion, however, hasn’t affected Dhoni’s motivation levels. The aim, obviously, is to win the game. “We will try our best and that’s what we are supposed to do,” Dhoni said.
Ponting, meanwhile, is under huge pressure. The Tasmanian wants that elusive win. “I want to be able to change my captaincy record here. All I can do is give myself the best chance to be able to do that, and give the team the best chance to being able to do that,” he said.
And Ponting knows there’s no better to way to silence his critics than by winning in Bangalore. The only good news is that Australia are yet to lose a Test in Bangalore. In fact, Australia have beaten India twice at this venue. Dhoni is aware of Australia’s impressive record at this venue.
He also knows how desperate Ponting is for a win. “They will come hard at us. That’s their culture and they don’t give up easily. We have to prepare for that and respond,” Dhoni said. But it’s not just Dhoni who is having a problem with his playing XI. Even left-arm pacer Doug Bollinger is a doubtful starter.
Meanwhile, no one has any clue as to how the pitch here will behave. “The wicket is damp right now and I don’t want to predict too much right now.
“Once it dries up, we will have a look, there is not too much grass on the wicket and we will see how hard it is. We also need to take a look at the conditions before taking a call,” Dhoni said.
Thankfully, there was no rain on Thursday and the wicket was continuously rolled. The groundsmen believe they have succeeded in getting rid of the dampness to some extent.
This effectively means the wicket will be on the slower side and the weekend crowd can expect loads of runs. Well, if it rains on Friday night, it could be a different story altogether.
As far as India are concerned, Murali Vijay and pacer S Sreesanth are likely to replace Gambhir and Ishant respectively. Laxman has said he will “most probably play”, but if he doesn’t, Cheteshwar Pujara will make his debut.
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