Cricket Update: iSporter Rajas Joshi previews the 2nd Test Match between India and Australia.
Don’t be mistaken by the smiling Australians at the ICC awards in Bangalore. The 1-wkt defeat has hurt them, and hurt them bad. India has always been that elusive part of the world for them and to come so close to going one up in the series and then to lose the test must have been a bitter pill to swallow. Even though Australia won the 2004 edition of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India 2-1, it would be fair to say that India have had the upper hand in this duel since the 2001 series.
There is no doubt that the Australians will come back hard at the hosts and try to end the series on a high. I might be jumping the gun here, but in my opinion it is not the Indians who need to worry, rather the Australians who have to be wary of the hosts. The Indians might have already retained the trophy by winning the roller-coaster first test match, but they
are not done yet. The first test was a scare and if anything it has only made them more alert.
It is not often that India goes through a test series without a ‘batsman’ scoring a hundred. I recall the last time that happened was when India toured England in April 2007, with skipper Kumble being the only centurion for India. There are a lot of hungry batsmen waiting to get to triple figures.
Rahul Dravid has not been in the best of touch for a while now and his dismissals in the first test would have infuriated him only to make him more resilient, if that was ever possible. At the top, Virender Sehwag will be firing on all cylinders as usual and Murli Vijay would want to make a strong impression. Tendulkar came agonisingly close to getting his 49th test hundred and would look continue his good form. It would be foolish to think Laxman will not get big runs if his back allows him to play the second test. Dhoni is yet to get a test hundred against the Australians and if he comes in to bat when the middle order has already fired, it might just be the match for him.
I would put my money on India going on to win the series 2-0, second series in succession and if I had to pick only one batsman, it would have to be The Great Wall of India - Rahul Dravid.
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