Australia Vs India Odi Match at Adelaide

Don Bradman’s Home Ground

India takes on Australia in the next one day match in the tri series contest at Adelaide tomorrow. Once, Adelaide Oval was enclosed in a beautiful white coloured fence. Obviously for security reasons, the fence should have been scrapped. The home of the greatest cricketer in Test history, Donald Bradman, gears up for yet another contest.

Will Sachin Be Made To Rest?

But will the result be any different this time? This question does not interest anybody as the series is proving to be a one-sided contest, at least as far as India and Australia are concerned. The main question is whether Mahendra Singh Dhoni will follow his rotation policy for tomorrow’s match and if so, who will be dropped to accommodate Rohit Sharma. Will it be Sachin’s turn this time to sit out in the pavilion?

No Harm in Giving Rohit Sharma Some More Chances

Sunil Gavaskar and Wasim Akram have criticised the rotation policy and have recommended having a stable eleven players for all the matches. But Dhoni is having enough confidence in Rohit Sharma and in order to facilitate his inclusion, a rotation policy has to be followed. I do not see any harm in following this policy. After all, India played almost the same team in all the four tests and did not succeed. In England tour also it was the same case. So, what is the harm if a different technique is tried out this time? So far, Rohit Sharma has not proved his worth. But there is nothing wrong in giving him more chances. Rohit Sharma is highly successful in domestic matches including IPL. But on bouncy and fast Australian tracks, he needs to adjust his technique to perform well.

Zaheer Khan, Even If Not Fully Fit, Can Make A Difference

Another interest is whether Zaheer Khan will be included in the squad. Zaheer can certainly make a difference if he is fully fit. I do not believe that a fast bowler can fully recover from an injury after he has crossed the age of thirty. Therefore Zaheer may not be at his earlier best even if he is included in the side. But even at this level, he can make a difference in the team. As Ashwin has proved his performance with both bat and ball in the previous match against Sri Lanka, he has to be necessarily included in the squad for tomorrow’s game.

Four Fast Bowlers and a Spinner?

If India plays four fast bowlers and a spinner, its bowling line up will be Zaheer Khan, Umesh Yadav, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar and Ravichandran Ashwin. This means the six other batsmen will be Sehwag, Gambhir, Dhoni, Tendulkar, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. This means Suresh Raina will have to rest. But if Dhoni takes a bold stand and drops Tendulkar, then Raina can play. Sunil Gavaskar had the temerity to drop Kapil Dev in the Calcutta test. He was accused of deliberately preventing Kapil Dev from achieving a world record of playing hundred tests continuously. If Dhoni drops Tendulkar, there will not be any such criticism, but still the fans eagerly awaiting the Master’s hundredth international hundred will be disappointed.

Sehwag or Dilshan Can Expose the Weakness of the Aussies

There is not much to write about Australian squad. They can afford to retain the earlier squad or experiment with new players. But I have a feeling that this Australian team is not an unbeatable one. There are better Australian teams I have seen in the past and the present squad does not measure to even a fraction of the earlier teams, for example, the one led by the mercurial Ian Chappell in the seventies or by Alan Border in the eighties. But still, Australia is Australia. The brand image makes other teams to give respect to the Aussies and fear them. It is this psychology that is working in favour of the current Australian squad and not their real talent. But if either India or Sri Lanka exposes this truth and tears the Aussie attack to pieces, it will be the beginning of the end of the Aussie dominance. Only Virender Sehwag or Dilshan can accomplish this act. I am eagerly looking forward to such an innings from either of them.