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After India's debilitating performance in the third Test against Australia in Indore, all eyes will be on their batting performance when they take the field in the final match of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Ahmedabad on Thursday, March 9. This match is especially important as the side pursue their second successive World Test Championship final berth, having already won two of the required three matches in this series.
A loss or draw by no means completely quashes their chances but a 3-1 series win will ensure that Team India does not depend on Sri Lanka's Away Test series against New Zealand for a ticket to summit the WTC clash in June.
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The Indore Test was a spinner's paradise as both sides held fort on designer tracks that bordered on being under-prepared, the firm and even bounce on offer at Motera does promise some welcome respite for the batters.
With 100,000 people expected on the opening day to witness Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese watch a cricket match for the first time in a stadium named after the former, the buzz is set to reach an all-time high.
But for the likes of Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Cheteshwar Pujara, their job will be to take the onus on themselves and win the mind games. Two batters who will hope to get among the runs are Kohli (111) and Pujara (98). Given that Axar Patel (185) is India's second-highest scorer in the series after skipper Rohit (207) puts things into perspective about the difficulty that batters have faced so far.
For Kohli especially, playing the spinners of Australia has been a major handicap. Playing Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Matt Kuhnemann on a better batting strip will boost his prospects, with both Kohli and Pujara knowing that big knocks against quality opposition have eluded them for far too long.
For India, one straight change will be Mohammed Shami coming in alongside the seasoned Umesh Yadav. Mohammed Siraj will be rested as he is expected to play a key role in India's ODI campaign starting March 17 in Mumbai.
Axar the batter has been a revelation during the series but his left-arm spin hasn't been useful. Playing on the field where he has played the bulk of his first class cricket and first got Test stardom, might work in the star all-rounder's favour.
As far as Australia is concerned, the choice will be between Kuhnemann and Murphy for the extra pacer — Scott Boland or Lance Morris. Having already clinched the WTC final berth, stand-in skipper Steve Smith will hope of spoiling the great Indian record of being invincible at home.
It hasn't happened since England came in 2012, but after the Indore boomerang, the possibility can't be ruled out.
Teams
Australia
Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Lance Morris, Todd Murphy, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith (captain), Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson.
India
Rohit Sharma (captain), KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, Ravichandran Ashwin, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Suryakumar Yadav, Jaydev Unadkat.
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(With PTI Inputs)
