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Bengaluru, Mar 4 : Te 'wounded' Virat Kohli men are all set to take on Smith men of Australia at the Chinnaswamy stadium here on Saturday morning. The shocking defeat of Indian team at Pune have raised several questions, but Virat's morale is not down. "The defeat was needed us to regroup. We will come back" says Catain Kohli.
But Smith has already started playing mind game, for wich Kangaroos are quite famous. "We are away from just couple good sessions to keep the series title in our bag" said Smith. But lashing out at Smith, Kohli said that, our moral or confidence is not going to be down by such 'mind game' comments by Smith.
India's final eleven has been kept guessing until last moment. There is a posibility of Ishant Sharma, who was even kept out from IPL team owners, might sit in the bench. Bhuvaneshwar Kumar might come in for Ishant. Hardik Pandya is ruled out of selection due to injury. It would be interesting to see if Triple century hero Karan Nair would get a chance to play in his home ground.
The wicket at Pune was a spinner's pet. It obliged its master's commands. And Steven O' Keefe became the beast master as the monster in the wicket became a subservient to him. And he did all of it with his deadly arm balls and straighter ones with a trajectory as flat as a pool table. Nathan Lyon with all his homework(no homework-gate this time) before the series kept doing things in a silent manner and was equally menacing by imparting serpentine turn on every delivery flicked out of his hand. India had Ashwin, had Jadeja, had Yadav, the trio did little to match their counterparts. It was a handicapped match but the team with lesser resources had a better understanding of the wicket. 1-0 to Australia, Nah, 1-0 to Australian spinners as well. Indian spinners will be itching to bounce back!
Pitch Report: 'It is flat and hard. Traditionally, it looks good for the first innings. The Australian pacers will enjoy the back of a length space. Compared to Pune, it is chalk and cheese. There would be some moisture and if a spinner is introduced early, the ball might stop and come. Compared to Pune, much better for batting. The team winning the toss will mostly look to bat first', summarise Matthew Hayden, Mark Butcher and Ravi Shastri
Test match review:
Bouncebackability and coming out on top in the face of adversity - the hallmarks of any great team. Australia are nowhere near being a great team, but they showcased the latter in their famous win in Pune. For India, it is now time to display the former as they seek to level the series in Bengaluru.
Australia came into the series when almost everybody had written them off, and they showed exactly why it was wrong to do so. They saw themselves as the underdogs and said they would not worry about the results but instead look at their processes. After taking the lead, they are now back to being 'Australian'. Steve Smith said Virat Kohli and his side will be under pressure. Mitchell Starc said India won't prepare bouncy wickets because the hosts were weak in that department. Kohli shot back by saying that India were unperturbed and that Australia are very good at pre-game press conferences and mindgames.
The rivalry between India and Australia is now back to where it belongs. Australia have started to try and assert their dominance off the field too, while India are now trying to show they are not that easily intimidated.
The Pune loss would have definitely ruffled a few feathers, but the home team remains bullish that they were never under any illusions about their unbeatability. However, there are a lot of questions that India have to answer. Starting with their combination for Bengaluru.
The Indian skipper has hinted that there will be changes, continuing his run of never playing with the same team for two consecutive Tests since he took over. Karun Nair spent a considerable time in the nets on both days before the match, while Jayant Yadav was reduced to a part-player with R Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja bowling the majority of time. Hardik Pandya is suffering from a shoulder niggle and won't be available for selection. However, his absence is unlikely to be a cause of much worry to the team management going into the second Test.
Australia, in the meantime, announced that they will keep faith in the same XI and hope to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The pre-series talk may have been a bit on the less intense side, but with Australia's win in Pune, a keen contest has unfurled. Bengaluru will witness the first of it - a win for Australia will be a hammer blow for an Indian side that is confident that Pune was a rare blemish in its rise to greatness, while an Indian win would put the pressure right back on the visitors. As for a draw, not sure if the pitch would allow that.
When: India vs Australia, 2nd Test, March 4, 9:30 AM local time
Where: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
What to expect: The grass on the pitch was trimmed and brushed off twice on two days before the match, leaving Mitchell Marsh to term it 'very dry'. Smith reckoned that the toss and the first innings score will play big parts in the game. The pitch should not be as dry as it was in Pune, but there should still be help for the spinners.
Team News:
India: Kohli said the team had a few combinations in mind and even added that there could be surprises when the team is announced. Ishant Sharma hardly got to bowl in the nets, whereas Bhuvneshwar Kumar was persisted with alongside Umesh Yadav. With the wicket expected to bounce more consistently, Bhuvneshwar could come in for Ishant, who was bowled only for three overs in the second innings in Pune.
India could also be looking at bringing in Karun Nair to beef up their batting after their twin debacles in the first Test. Kohli and Kumble could bring in Nair in place of Jayant Yadav, who had a rather poor outing in Pune. The other option for India could be to play with three seamers, by bringing Bhuvneshwar in place of Jayant Yadav, but it looks unlikely.
The opening combo of Murali Vijay and KL Rahul has looked shaky, but it looks as if the Indian team will stick to it. Both players have been in decent form, even if they haven't clicked batting alongside each other, and with Rahul showing no signs of discomfort while batting in the nets, India would, most likely, stick with him over Abhinav Mukund.
Hardik Pandya, who is suffering from a shoulder niggle, won't be available for selection.
Australia: Australia have confirmed that they will play with the same XI.
What they said:
'We know that India are going to come back hard at us and there is no doubt about that. They have played very well at home. From our point of view, we are going to take a lot from the way we have played in the last game.' - Steve Smith, Australia captain.
'Sometimes such losses are necessary for the team. We have to test a lot of things. We look at it as a chance to improve some of the things that we need to win a Test match.' - Virat Kohli, India captain.
Did you know:
Steve Smith needs 112 runs more to reach 5000 runs in Test cricket. If he reaches there in one innings, he will be the joint third-fastest (95 innings) to the landmark after Don Bradman (56) and Jack Hobbs (91).
Smith has scored a hundred in each of his last five Tests against India. Bradman is the only player to do so in six successive matches - against England in 1937-38.
R Ashwin needs six more wickets to go past Bishan Bedi's tally of 266 scalps to break into India's top five leading wicket-takers.