Oval and (flat-) Out

Giving due credit to the Indian batsmen, the Adelaide track seems to have nothing much in it for the bowlers. I believe this is the rationale which justifies the inclusion on the fifth bowler in the Indian line up.
Kumble has been spot on with his reading of the pitch on almost all occasions and looks like he has got it spot on this itme as well.

As an Australian supporter, I would have counted on the WACA test to go Australia’s way. Assuming that the two teams shared the honours in the first two tests, the series would be poised at 2-1 in favour of Australia if not 3-0 before the final test. (I would have expected India to not win more than one of the first three tests due to the inexperience in the bowling attack.)

It is in the interest of the hosts to secure the series rather than go for an all out win and give a chance to India to end up with 2-2. The Australians seemed to have taken this play-safe approach and presented India with a batting track.

Australia, a few tours back, would have made a fast bouncy track to do India in but the choice of a flat track displays the respect that they have for the Indian batting. Perth test outcome has yet again proved the might of the Indian batsmen and hence the approach.

Ricky Ponting is going through a phase where in he has to look for happenings to save face and India squaring the series would not do him much good. If India manages to square the series, they would turn back and claim that if the Sydney test mishap hadn’t occurred, who knows the series would have ended 2-1 in favour of India.

In my opinion India missed a trick when batsmen like VVS and Ganguly departed early. If either of them would have stuck around a bit longer, we may have been able to declare at least one session earlier giving our bowlers a bit more time to get 20 wickets.

So, honestly I do not expect a result in this match unless any side crumples under pressure which both have done a few times in the series.