BRISBANE, Australia, 3 December 2003 — Australia are looking to get onto the front foot quickly and claim the psychological high ground when they take on India in the opening match of their four-Test series at the Gabba here tomorrow.
The aggressive Australians want to make it known from the first over who is in charge, while India will face an uphill task to match outgoing captain Steve Waugh’s world-beaters.
The signs are not good for the Indians; while they have not lost at home to Australia for over three decades, they have been struggling against all-comers when on tour.
India have not won a Test series outside the subcontinent since 1986 and in seven previous tours of Australia they have won just three of 28 Test matches, their last victory coming in 1981.
It’s been 15 years since Australia lost a Test at the Gabba — in 1988 to the West Indies — and since then they have won 11 and drawn four, all the victories coming by huge margins.
India have lost all their four Tests at the Gabba — the last time by 10 wickets in 1991-92.
India may be blessed to have Sachin Tendulkar in their batting line-up along with skipper Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Venkatsai Laxman, but the bottom line is that their bowlers will be hard-pressed to roll over the all-conquering Australians.
Ganguly’s tourists will badly miss Javagal Srinath, the spearhead of their pace attack who has just retired. The remaining contingent of Zaheer Khan, Ashish Nehra, Ajit Agarkar and Laxmipathy Balaji boast just 57 Tests caps between them, while Irfan Pathan has to yet to play international cricket.
A lot will rest on spinners Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh, even though neither has been as successful abroad as at home in recent times.
A further sign of concern ahead of Waugh’s farewell Test series is that India were outplayed in their two lead-up games by Victoria and emphatically outshone by the modest Queensland Academy of Sport XI.
They will get no favors from Waugh’s men, although the team has been weakened significantly by the loss of injured pacemen Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee, while Shane Warne’s year-long suspension for taking a banned substance runs until Feb.10.
Australians will be looking to ram home their advantage tomorrow, the opening day of the first Test at the Gabba, which has produced a grassy, bouncy pitch.
Opening batsman Justin Langer, lining up for his 68th Test, is looking to grab a mental edge straight away. “Hopefully, we’ll get a psychological advantage when India walks in here and sees that grass on the wicket,” Langer said yesterday. “It’s something they’re not used to and the Indians will see this. The ball will swing around and bounce and be quite quick, so straightaway we’ll have a psychological advantage over them.”
Langer believes the greenish pitch will play a part in creating monsters in the minds of the India’s batsmen. Jason Gillespie will lead the Australian attack after missing the second Test against Zimbabwe in Sydney last October with a side strain. Gillespie is likely to be partnered by local quick Andy Bichel, and either left-armer Nathan Bracken or tearaway Brad Williams.
