After the fire comes opportunity for new growth and rejuvenation. Over the course of their last two tours, India have been burnt to a crisp, but it still remains to be seen whether they will embrace the new shoots that are coming through.
At this stage not even the BCCI should be able to deny that something is fundamentally wrong and a new approach is needed. The board is not prone to moments of self-reflection, though, and will hope that success in the limited-overs leg of the tour can cover up some of the Test failings.
They do at least have some changes of personnel for this series, and will be up against an Australian unit that is far from a polished product. India also tend to be liberated by the arrival of limited-overs cricket, which brings greater freedom to their play.
The tourists have a large squad of 17 for the two Twenty20 matches, from which they will hope to glean their best possible side for the World Twenty20 later this year. With the IPL still to come there is still plenty of time for individuals to impress, but the selectors will still want to start working on which combinations work best.
The return of Sachin Tendulkar to the Twenty20 squad is a clear indication that he fancies a shot at the trophy he missed out on back in 2007, when he opted out of the inaugural World T20. Since then he has shown his pedigree in the format at domestic level, averaging close to 40 and showing what everyone has missed on the international stage, where he has just a solitary T20 cap.
Half of India's squad are aged 25 years or under, and for several of them the Twenty20 series will mark the beginning of a push to replace the Test veterans. India's selectors refused to make a single change to the batting line-up in the four Tests, so the likes of Rohit Sharma will be eager to prove that they have a temperament that can serve the five-day side well in the future.
Australia's squad is a curious mix which reflects a clean break with the old selection panel. The new one has hardly put a foot wrong in the Test arena, so they deserve the benefit of the doubt in picking an uncapped player as their new captain whilst recalling Brad Hogg, who is just shy of his 41st birthday.
With so few players providing links with the Test and one-day squads, they may struggle to carry the recent success in those formats into this series as the new representatives try to find their feet.
However one thing they will have in their favour is recent match practice, with the majority of the squad coming into the series straight from the Big Bash, which finished on Saturday.
Australia:
Three years ago David Warner smashed his way onto the international scene with an out-of-the-blue Twenty20 performance against South Africa. Now he has two Test hundreds, has been named vice-captain of this squad and touted as a future Australia captain. Few players in world cricket can equal his match-winning ability.
India:
The best thing to come out of the Test whitewash for India was the overall performance of Virat Kohli, which showed that an exciting future awaits once the veterans move on. When Kohli is in good form with the bat that confidence also seeps into his fielding, turning him into a key player that both makes and saves runs.
Head-To-Head Results
May 2010: Australia won by 49 runs in Bridgetown (WT20)
February 2008: Australia won by nine wickets in Melbourne
October 2007: India won by seven wickets in Mumbai
September 2007: India won by 15 runs in Durban (WT20)
Prediction
India have the better Twenty20 pedigree but are likely to take time to adapt to conditions. It therefore seems plausible that they will lose the first match, but win the second.
Online betting firm Sky Bet has Australia at 8/13 in the betting for the first Twenty20. Visit Sky Bet for the latest cricket betting.
Squads
Australia: George Bailey (capt), David Warner (vice-capt), Travis Birt, Dan Christian, Xavier Doherty, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Brad Hogg, David Hussey, Brett Lee, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Clint McKay, Matthew Wade.
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Manoj Tiwary, Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Parthiv Patel, Irfan Pathan, Praveen Kumar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Rahul Sharma, Zaheer Khan.
Fixtures
First T20I: Sydney, 1 February
Second T20I: Melbourne, 3 February
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