India desperately search for answers
Preview at Hyderabad
Match Facts
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Start Time 14.30
Big Picture
It's funny how one loss can completely change the complexion of a side, and India has fallen victim to this phenomenon. Down 2-1 in a 7 match series, you would think India have time to claw their way back, but that's far from the truth, with India requiring 3 wins from 4 games. And considering their shortcomings so far, they don't have much leeway to get things right.
The batting has been inconsistent, Sehwag and Yuvraj not getting starts, and Tendulkar failing to building on them. Gambhir and Dravid have looked the most reliable, and Raina could stake his claim with that status, however he has not had the opportunity to bat longer due to his position in the lineup. The bowling has been a shamble, a far cry from the first game, and India can ill afford to leak runs against a long Australian batting lineup.
Australia, meanwhile are sitting pretty. Even with the openers not providing the best starts, their batting looks soundm and they're bowling is as tidy as it could be. A win at Hyderabad will effectively shut India out of the series, although a 3-1 scoreline may not reflect that.
Form Guide
(last five matches, most recent first, Champions Trophy 2009 not included)
India - LLWLW
Australia - WWLLW
Watch out for...
Phil Hughes has constantly made starts, with scores 44, 24, and 68, but has not made anything overly substantial. He'll be itching to get a big score, and against India's waivering pace bowlers, he has the perfect opportunity to really win the game for Australia early on.
Andrew Symonds has had a quiet series so far, getting the odd wicket here and there, and not joining the party in terms of batting, mainly because he doesn't get the time at no. 8. Symonds will surely be looking to stamp his authority on the series soon.
Team News
Australia are unlikely to change their side. India however, have various conundrums in both batting and bowling. Thye most likely change will be Yuvraj Singh, who probably will be replaced by Yusuf Pathan or Rohit Sharma. Dhoni may opt for Yusuf, as he will help ease the pain of only going in with four frontline bowlers.
India (probable): 1 Sachin Tendulkar 2 Virender Sehwag 3 Gautam Gambhir 4 Rahul Dravid 5 Suresh Raina 6 MS Dhoni (c)(wk) 7 Yusuf Pathan/Rohit Sharma 8 Harbhajan Singh 9 Praveen Kumar 10 Ishant Sharma 11 Ashish Nehra
Australia (probable): 1 Phil Hughes 2 Phil Jaques 3 Ricky Ponting (c) 4 Michael Hussey 5 Michael Clarke 6 Shane Watson 7 Andrew Symonds 8 Brad Haddin (wk) 9 Mitchell Johnson 10 Nathan Bracken 11 Pete Siddle
Pitch and Conditions
Weather is forecasted to be warm and sunny, while reports suggest that the pitch is expected to be flat.
Image: Phil Hughes will be itching to get a big score on Thursday...