A dominant India will look to seal WTC final spot, Aus seeks redemption

INDORE: India is expected to enhance its aura of invincibility at home with another series win while a down and out Australia will need nothing less than a monumental effort to bounce back in the third Test, beginning here Wednesday.

India has already secured the Border-Gavaskar trophy and it will now be playing for a record-extending 16th straight series win at home and a guaranteed spot in the World Test Championship final in June.

ing 2-0 in a four-match series, India is sitting pretty and just needs to make one tough decision of choosing between out-of-form K L Rahul and Shubman Gill.

Rahul is no more the vice-captain of the side but the team management has shown tremendous faith in him and he might well get another opportunity to get back among the runs.

The only hundred of the series, which has been dominated by spinners, has come from the bat of Rohit Sharma. If India gets to bat on day one, the conditions will be ideal for the likes of Cheteshwar Pujara and Virat Kohli to pile on the runs.

The trio of Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin and Axar Patel has not just delivered with the ball, it has also scored the bulk of the runs so far in the series. Since they can’t be expected to get runs in the lower order regularly, the onus lies on the top-order.

Contrary to Australia’s inexplicable sweeping tactics, Indian batters have adopted the conventional approach against the impressive Australian spinners.

Rohit has been brilliant with his feet movement, Kohli too has looked assured in the middle and an unbeaten 31 from Cheteshwar Pujara in his 100th Test must have made him more confident going into the third Test.

The square at the Holkar Stadium houses pitches with both black and red soil. The curators have decided to go with the black soil, which usually doesn’t offer as much turn and bounce compared to red soil tracks. Its battered and bruised opponent, Australia, has got a lot of time to reflect on its defeats in Nagpur and Delhi. The debacle in Delhi should hurt more.

In terms of its squad composition, a lot has changed with Pat Cummins back in Australia to be with his ailing mother. Ashton Agar, Josh Hazlewood and David Warner too are back home. Steve Smith will lead the side.

The visitor could not be faulted for the amount of effort it is putting in to stage a comeback in the series.