Australia vs India – Commonwealth Bank series – Match Preview
After victories against Sri Lanka at Perth, Australia and India will battle in the fourth game of the Commonwealth Bank series played at the Adelaide Oval, February 12, 2012.
The hosts kept their unbeaten run intact despite a heroic effort from Angelo Mathews, who almost led the Lankans to the winning line. The success, by all accounts, wasn’t satisfactory where the Kangaroos unit underperformed with the bat – failing to deal
with the new ball bowlers of their opponents.
Again, it was skipper, Michael Clarke leading from the front, playing a cautious, yet significant, hand of 57, helping his team to post a decent 231.
When talking about the WACA pitch, one generally senses the pacers to share most of the workload. Evidently, there was plenty of bounce and pace on offer for the new ball bowlers but the surprising aspect has been the amount of turn extracted by the spinners,
who in both the previous games have made scoring considerably difficult in the middle stages.
Xavier Doherty continues to rise with sterling performances and even Clarke was all praises for the spinner after he ending with majestic match figures of 10-0-24-2. It certainly helped his side to defend a low total despite the late onslaught from Mathews.
A lot has been discussed in length regarding the inclusion of Peter Forrest in the national team. The Queenslander remained on the fringes of selection in the last match but is expected to finally make his debut at Adelaide, where he has enjoyed success
in the domestic circuit.
Despite Ricky Ponting underperforming, Michael Hussey’s name has popped up as the most likely player to be benched. All-rounder, Mitchell Marsh, is also in line to make his first bout of the series, which means Daniel Christian may also miss out.
The Indians also registered their first win but that came against their struggling Asian counterparts, with Ravichandran Ashwin’s all-round display helped his side to scrape home by a narrow 4-wicket margin. The spinner, along with spearhead pacer Zaheer
Khan, was in the thick of the action as both shared excellent combined figures of 20-2-76-5.
However, a victory against the hosts eluded them in the first game of the CB series, and they will be hoping to put on an improved showing. The signs have been promising in terms of commitment but they still seem to lack the killer instinct or the self belief
in overpowering their opponents.
The rotational policy upfront has failed to work with neither Virender Sehwag nor Gautam Gambhir scoring enough runs to stake a permanent claim. However, their solitary win will provide sufficient base for the same playing XI to get another reckoning with
left-hander expected to remain out of the team.
The youngsters will provide extra energy on the field however; will need to come up with significant contributions. Their only win of the tour (2nd T20) was an exceptional all-round effort a young looking Men In Blue and skipper, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, will
be hoping to emulate that success.
The pitch at the Adelaide Oval will help their cause due to its batting friendly nature. Spinners will be expected to get turn as the game progresses and one anticipates a high-scoring encounter. The forecast however, is cloudy for Sunday with temperatures
in the high 20s.