As for pressure well we will know much more when SA are over here. Also I missed the India tour of Aus last year but were the overrates slow there?
Yes, I was just about to bring that up. I remember the over rates being pretty poor when India toured there last but as usual there being no punishment for Ponting. I especially remember because Australia were thinking of going with a 4-prong seam attack though their over-rate with Hogg in the side blew anyways.
Let me just confirm this though with some crude analysis based on Cricinfo notes (the team name is the side bowling). It is crude because I don't remember stoppages in play or whether they had to go into the extra 30 minutes to finish up. Any figures in parentheses indicate a rough calculation based on 2 overs for change of innings, if teams only bowled a small part of a given session.
1st Test @ Melbourne
Day 1: India 27, India 29, India 34 ;
TOTAL: 90
Day 2: Australia 21.4 (26.2), Australia 26, Australia 24.1 & India 8 (10) ;
TOTAL: 86 (including overs for innings changeover)
Day 3: India 29, India 26, India 25 & Australia 8 (10) ;
TOTAL: 90
Day 4: Australia 27, Australia 26
Summary: It appears the only sessions that came close to the acceptable over rate of 15 an hour were Day 1, Session 2 and Day 3, Session 1. Discounting the mixed sessions and post-tea sessions, India's over rate was 13.5 and Australia's was 13.1. Not much of a difference, but still below the required.
2nd Test @ Sydney
Day 1: India 25, India 27, India 37 ;
TOTAL: 89
Day 2: India 22.3 (27.3), Australia 27, Australia 32;
TOTAL: 86.3
Day 3: Australia 26, Australia 25, Australia 25.2 (32.2) ;
TOTAL: 83.2
Day 4: RAIN/BAD LIGHT
Day 5: India 23.4 (27.4), Australia 24, Australia 39.2
Summary: Slightly difficult to tell but on the 3 full days of play, the 90 overs were never bowled and there was no bad light either. The day India was bowling, 1 over was lost but the days when Australia were primarily bowling about 11 overs were lost. Cumulatively, India had a rate of about 13.4 and Australia had one of about 12.5.
3rd Test @ Perth
Day 1: Australia 24, Australia 27, Australia 33 ;
TOTAL: 84
Day 2: Australia 14.2 (24.2), India 23, India 19 (32) ;
TOTAL: 79.2
Day 3: Australia 22, Australia 32, Both 30.4 (32.4) ;
TOTAL: 86.4
Day 4: India 25, India 27, India 19.5
Summary: Both teams had a couple of pathetic sessions. Notably, India's over rate on Day 2 sucked, as did Australia's. However, apart from the 32-over session in the middle of Day 3 both teams were bad: Australia had an average of about 13.1 and India 12.3.
4th Test @ Adelaide
Day 1: Australia 26, Australia 27, Australia 33 ;
TOTAL: 86
Day 2: Australia 26, Australia 39 (extended), India 21 (24.5);
TOTAL: 90
Day 3: India 30, India 27, India 33 ;
TOTAL: 90
Day 4: India 31, India 25, Both 31 (33) ;
TOTAL: 89
Day 5: Australia 24, Australia 25, Australia 24 ;
TOTAL: 77
Summary: This had a couple of really good sessions, both from India. The overrates tended to be better (maybe the match referee had a chat), but they faded out towards the end. Averages: India had about 14.1 and Australia had about 13.
So it looks like 15 is definitely too high a target unless they really get the message through to the players that they are serious about it. Wickets obviously need to be factored in, but a lot of times captains spend too much time talking with their players and setting fields, especially when the situation is tight.