Australia and India test series set to begin

Australia and India are set to re-ignite their rivalry with another test match series, their 4th series in 4 and a half years. It is on the back of a 4 match series played in Australia in the summer of 2011/12. In that series, India were ultimately pathetic and were whitewashed, following on from their 4-0 loss to India earlier in 2011.

In regards to both teams' test form, they are both in a transitional phase. The legends of yesteryear have come and gone (Tendulkar and Sehwag withstanding) and left two teams with plenty of inexperienced players. Australia have recently departed with Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey, who were both expected originally to make this tour as well as the Ashes. Australia's recent form in their home summer was quite good with a 3-0 win over Sri Lanka, and a closely fought 1-0 loss to the table topping South Africans. This suggested that they are too good for the likes of Sri Lanka and the rest, but are still not up to scratch to the likes of South Africa and England. India have had disappointing recent form in the test game. They did beat New Zealand 2-0 at home, after which a 2-1 loss to England followed. The last team to beat India in India before the English was in fact the Australians in 2004. It was on this tour that Michael Clarke made a debut century, and Adam Gilchrist was at the helm. In the last two series' in India between these two sides, India won 2-0 on both occasions.

Australia will take some hope from the fact that England defeated India, but England are undoubtedly a much better side than the aussies at the moment. Their two spinners in Swann and Panesar were exceptional, and Nathan Lyon is really no match for them. There has been quite a lot of debtate about Australia's selection for the first test with only one specialist spinner (Lyon) and four pacemen. But the fact is that there is no point playing for two specialist spinners if they are not good enough. Starc, Siddle and Pattinson are all better bowlers than Doherty, so irrespective of the coniditons, I think the decision made was a good one.

Nonetheless the Australians will struggle with the spin-friendly conditions. Captain Michael Clarke is the only player who plays spin well, with the top 4 of Warner, Cowan, Hughes and Watson all generally struggling against it. In addition to this, only Clarke, Watson, Johnson and Siddle have played a test in India.

For India, there is pressure on Tendulkar to score some big runs, and another series failure could see the end of one of the best players the game has ever seen. Although India have struggled of late, they still have quality in their side with Sehwag, Kohli, Dhoni and Sharma. Harbajhan Singh could be the danger man, as he really relishes playing Australia, even though his "bunny" Ponting is no longer there.

This series should be a cracker as both teams are evenly matched. I think India will start favourites due to the conditions suiting them, and Australia's possibly frail batting line-up. A win for Australia could sew up the #2 Test ranking ahead of the April 1 cut-off date, while an Indian win could move them up from #5.

Squads:
India (1st and 2nd Test): Dhoni (c), Ashwin, Dhawan, Dinda, H.Singh, Jadeja, Kohli, Kumar, Ojha, Pujara, Rahane, Sehwag, Sharma, Tendulkar, Vijay
Australia: Clarke (c), Bird, Cowan, Doherty, Henriques, Hughes, Johnson, Khawaja, Lyon, Maxwell, Pattinson, Siddle, Smith, Starc, Wade, Warner, Watson

Full Fixtures:
1st Test @ MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk, Chennai
2nd Test @ Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
3rd Test @ Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh
4th Test @ Feroz Shah Kotla, Delhi