India down under

Indian cricket team will begin their campaign in Australia in a weeks time. Unlike their last tour, this tour starts with great expectations from this team. This might be the last by the fabulous five in Australia and this is their last chance to grab the glory of a test series victory against the best cricket team in their home ground.

I am very optimistic of Indian chances of a series victory for two reasons. The first one being, all the indian batsmen have been among runs lately and seem to be high on confidence. Especially, dada has been in the form of his life all year. The second reason is the absence of Mcgrath and Warne. Without them, the australian bowling line up is not as potent as it was in the last decade. Lee, Clark and Johnson, sure make a great line up but barring Lee none have enough experience and they might crumble under pressure when they get hit for a few runs. Australian team have no spinner to boast about and asking four fast bowlers to take 20 wickets and bowl 90 overs a day would be a difficult proposition.

India has two weak points in their line up. It was the opening partnerships of Akash chopra and Sehwag that gave india the edge last time around. Karthik and Jaffer dont seem like a solid opening pair against the aussie seam attack. But lets not forget that Karthik was the highest run getter in England. Indian bowling seems to be little out of options suddenly with two rookies in the team. It will be a pity if Yuvraj doesnt get to play in Australia. He is too good a talent to sit on the bench.

Good luck to Jumbo and his team.