India v Australia 2012-13
Following the imbroglio, Watson pulled out of the tour and returned to Australia. That, coupled with Matthew Wade's injury, leaves the visitors with a very few options in picking the playing XI. It will be a daunting task to shake off all the extraneous factors and pitch in a good performance.
This Australian team never looked settled right from the beginning of the tour and their inadequacies against the turning ball were ruthlessly exposed by the Indian spinners. Michael Clarke fought a lone battle in both the outings and was the only batsman from the team who showed skills and nous to encounter spin. Ed Cowan got starts in all four innings but failed to kick on losing his wicket by playing reckless shots. David Warner was shaky against spin while Phil Hughes was disastrous. Hughes is yet to score a run against spinners in this series and has been dismissed in all innings by them. He would have been replaced by Khwaja.Clarke is likely to promote himself up the order to shore up the batting line-up. Brad Haddin was called in as standby for Wade and Mohali will be a superb chance for him to try and cement his place in the Test team if he gets the chance.
Mohali is the only surface in India which assists seam bowling and the expulsion of Pattinson is a huge blow for Australia, because he was easily their best bowler in the first two Tests and the only one who looked like taking wickets. His presence in the team would have given Australia their best chance to turn the tables against India. In his absence, Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle will form the pace bowling attack and look to make the most of the helpful conditions. Moises Henriques will chip in with his medium-fast bowling.
Glenn Maxwell didn't show much promise on Test debut at Hyderabad but the lack of options might secure him a place in the playing XI. Nathan's Lyon's exclusion from the second Test was widely criticized, with Rahul Dravid going to the extent of calling it "tactical blunder". Lyon is likely to make a comeback and Xavier Doherty could be retained despite his lackluster showing in the last match.
India are on a roll after winning two Tests in a row. Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni form a formidable middle order while R Ashwin and R Jadeja have been devastating with the ball. Virender Sehwag was axed from the Indian squad after failing to score runs in Chennai and Hyderabad Tests and Shikhar
Dhawan will make his Test debut. The 27-year-old Delhi opener is coming off his strongest first-class season (833 runs at 55.53, with four hundreds and three fifties) and has a chance to impress at Test level. Murali Vijay struck a fine century in the last Test and will aim to continue his good form.
India's only concern is the form of Harbhajan Singh. He was selected ahead of Pragyan Ojha, who was the highest wicket-taker for India in the Test series against India, in Chennai and Hyderabad and might retain his place Dhoni usually doesn't like to tinker with winning combinations. Ishant Sharma has picked up just 17 wickets in his last 13 Tests and his presence in the playing XI is baffling. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was impressive in his last outing and a conducive pitch at Mohali will help his cause further.
Australia will need to pull a rabbit out of the hat to prevent a dominant India from claiming another comprehensive victory and with it take back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Probable XIs:
India: 1 Murali Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Brad Haddin/Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Xavier Doherty
The Indian tour couldn't have shaped worse for Australia who are battling major issues on and off the field. As if massive defeats in the first two Tests weren't bad enough, the team management surprisingly axed four
players - Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Usman Khwaja and Mitchell Johnson - on Monday for the third Test for not submitting an assignment allotted to them by Micky Arthur and hence breaking team protocol.
players - Shane Watson, James Pattinson, Usman Khwaja and Mitchell Johnson - on Monday for the third Test for not submitting an assignment allotted to them by Micky Arthur and hence breaking team protocol.
Following the imbroglio, Watson pulled out of the tour and returned to Australia. That, coupled with Matthew Wade's injury, leaves the visitors with a very few options in picking the playing XI. It will be a daunting task to shake off all the extraneous factors and pitch in a good performance.
This Australian team never looked settled right from the beginning of the tour and their inadequacies against the turning ball were ruthlessly exposed by the Indian spinners. Michael Clarke fought a lone battle in both the outings and was the only batsman from the team who showed skills and nous to encounter spin. Ed Cowan got starts in all four innings but failed to kick on losing his wicket by playing reckless shots. David Warner was shaky against spin while Phil Hughes was disastrous. Hughes is yet to score a run against spinners in this series and has been dismissed in all innings by them. He would have been replaced by Khwaja.Clarke is likely to promote himself up the order to shore up the batting line-up. Brad Haddin was called in as standby for Wade and Mohali will be a superb chance for him to try and cement his place in the Test team if he gets the chance.
Mohali is the only surface in India which assists seam bowling and the expulsion of Pattinson is a huge blow for Australia, because he was easily their best bowler in the first two Tests and the only one who looked like taking wickets. His presence in the team would have given Australia their best chance to turn the tables against India. In his absence, Mitchell Starc and Peter Siddle will form the pace bowling attack and look to make the most of the helpful conditions. Moises Henriques will chip in with his medium-fast bowling.
Glenn Maxwell didn't show much promise on Test debut at Hyderabad but the lack of options might secure him a place in the playing XI. Nathan's Lyon's exclusion from the second Test was widely criticized, with Rahul Dravid going to the extent of calling it "tactical blunder". Lyon is likely to make a comeback and Xavier Doherty could be retained despite his lackluster showing in the last match.
India are on a roll after winning two Tests in a row. Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni form a formidable middle order while R Ashwin and R Jadeja have been devastating with the ball. Virender Sehwag was axed from the Indian squad after failing to score runs in Chennai and Hyderabad Tests and Shikhar
Dhawan will make his Test debut. The 27-year-old Delhi opener is coming off his strongest first-class season (833 runs at 55.53, with four hundreds and three fifties) and has a chance to impress at Test level. Murali Vijay struck a fine century in the last Test and will aim to continue his good form.
India's only concern is the form of Harbhajan Singh. He was selected ahead of Pragyan Ojha, who was the highest wicket-taker for India in the Test series against India, in Chennai and Hyderabad and might retain his place Dhoni usually doesn't like to tinker with winning combinations. Ishant Sharma has picked up just 17 wickets in his last 13 Tests and his presence in the playing XI is baffling. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was impressive in his last outing and a conducive pitch at Mohali will help his cause further.
Australia will need to pull a rabbit out of the hat to prevent a dominant India from claiming another comprehensive victory and with it take back the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Probable XIs:
India: 1 Murali Vijay, 2 Shikhar Dhawan, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Virat Kohli, 6 MS Dhoni (capt/wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Harbhajan Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma
Australia: 1 David Warner, 2 Ed Cowan, 3 Phillip Hughes, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Moises Henriques, 6 Glenn Maxwell, 7 Brad Haddin/Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Mitchell Starc, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Xavier Doherty
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