Boxing Day will see 70,000 people gathered to witness the first Test between Australia and India at the MCG where the home side has not lost a Test for nine years
Siddhartha Vaidyanathan in Melbourne25-Dec-2007
Fresh from blasting the Pakistan attack to all corners, Sourav Ganguly has a stiffer task at hand, and that too in his 100th Test © AFP
Take a walk in Melbourne’s Central Business District and the theme issimple: big. There’s the impressive Rod Laver Arena, the imposing CrownCasino, rows of skyscrapers, and the enormous MCG. Nobody needs anydirections for the G, as it’s referred to here, just get near the vicinityand look for the massive light towers. G is for gigantic.Come Boxing Day and close to 70,000 are expected to fill the arena, a groundwhere Australia haven’t lost since 1998 – that too in a nail-biter againstEngland. The last time they drew here was against South Africa in 1997. Theprevious eight Tests have all ended in Australian victories. The chances ofanother Australian win? Huge.The last few years have seen India evolve into a fine Test side but thiswill be their biggest test of all. A maiden Test win in South Africa wasbookended by historic series wins in West Indies and England but they will need to pull rabbits, parrots and kangaroos out of the same hat to have achance here. They’ve come with a weakened pace attack and a batting line-upfour years older than 2003. The nature of the challenge ahead of them?Massive.Ricky Ponting didn’t want to reveal the team composition but suggested areturn to Test cricket for Brad Hogg, the chinaman bowler whose last Testwas more than four years ago. He will back up Stuart Clark, a mean seambowler in the Glenn McGrath mould, and left-armer Mitchell Johnson, who hastasted success against India in the one-day format. The pacey Shaun Tait maymiss out but all could change if the pitch is damp on the firstmorning.”He is a guy that can break a game open in a matter of couple ofovers,” Ponting said of Tait. “What we lost in McGrath and Warne we gainedin a few other guys doing different roles.”India are likely to go in with a similar combination: three seamerscomplementing Anil Kumble, though there could be a toss-up between Ishant Sharma and offspinner Harbhajan Singh. Ponting didn’t think Ishant would play buta five-wicket haul in the recent Bangalore Test against Pakistan could seehim win a spot as the third seamer. Zaheer Khan and RP Singh, architects ofthe Indian win in England, will be expected to take the new ball. It has been confirmed, meanwhile, that Rahul Dravid will open the batting along with Wasim Jaffer, with Yuvraj Singhbolstering the line-up at No.6.Tony Ware, the head groundsman, thinks the pitch will be flat but feelsbowling first may be the way to go. Ponting didn’t rule out the possibility.”Through this year, in domestic cricket, the pitch has been very flat. Butthis has got more moisture in it than any of the first days of other games.So, it’s going to be a tricky decision. It’s probably going to bebowler-friendly from the looks of it. It’s going to be pretty slow and seamaround.”What has he usually preferred at this ground? “I don’t win thatmany tosses so I can’t tell.”India’s best batsman on current form is expected to walk in atNo.5. It will be Sourav Ganguly’s 100th Test. As a captain he’s thrivedagainst Australia but his batting heroics are largely confined to his sublimehundred in Brisbane last time around. Ponting offered a note of caution:”I’ve been lucky to play a hundred Test matches. I wasquite nervous going in, and I put a bit more pressure on myself going in.I’m sure Sourav will be feeling a bit anxious and a bit nervous as well.”Ganguly won’t mind being nervous initially if he achieved what Pontingmanaged: a unique feat of scoring a hundred in each innings of his100thTest. The scale of celebrations that will follow that feat? Big,really big.Teams (likely)
Australia – 1 Phil Jaques, 2 Matthew Hayden, 3 Ricky Ponting (capt), 4 Mike Hussey, 5 Michael Clarke, 6 Andrew Symonds, 7 Adam Gilchrist (wk), 8 Brett Lee, 9 Mitchell Johnson, 10 Stuart Clark, 11 Brad HoggIndia – 1 Wasim Jaffer, 2 Rahul Dravid, 3 VVS Laxman, 4 Sachin Tendulkar, 5 Sourav Ganguly, 6 Yuvraj Singh, 7 MS Dhoni (wk), 8 Anil Kumble (capt), 9 Zaheer Khan, 10 RP Singh, 11 Ishant Sharma/Harbhajan Singh