India hopes for a turnaround in its batting

What immediately strikes you about the Sydney Cricket Ground, especially after seeing its grand cousin in Melbourne, is the change of scale.

Even the statues — a fiercely moustachioed Fred Spofforth, a dashing Stan McCabe frozen in a vigorous hook stroke, a scheming, svelte Richie Benaud — are smaller. Development hasn't left the ground untouched.

But it still looks familiar, the distinctive, green-roofed Members and Ladies pavilions glinting in the sun as they have for so many years.

This is an intimate cricket ground that wears its history lightly. On Tuesday it will become just the third venue in the world, after Lord's and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, to host a hundred Tests. Some Test it will be if India and Australia express themselves like they did in Melbourne; India though will want to compete for the entire contest.

For those who seek such things, there are heartening signs for the touring side. Unlike the MCG, the SCG's playing field slopes away from the wicket square; it's smaller and the outfield is mown closer so it isn't as lush as the MCG: it's almost as if it has been designed for India's batsmen, who seek the comfort of boundaries.

The numbers, at least the convenient ones, show that India prefers batting here. Sachin Tendulkar has never been dismissed here after passing 45; his 664 runs have come at an average of 221.33. V.V.S. Laxman, who averages just over 14 at the MCG, gets his runs at a rate of 96 every innings at the SCG; each time he has visited, he has made a hundred.

India's batting average (runs per wicket) at the SCG moreover is 44 since 1990 — its highest at any ground in Australia.

Diverse opinions

A lot of course will depend on the pitch, which seems to be drawing diverse opinions. Tom Parker, the curator who has prepared splendid cricket wickets here, hopes for a surface with consistent bounce.

The grass is different from the thatched mat at the MCG; it's lighter, as Michael Hussey observed, but there will be movement off it. For how long, is the significant question. There should be more turn here, but again no one is certain.

India's batsmen will need to make Australia's bowlers work harder for their wickets. “Put miles in their legs,” is how international batsmen look to play Test bowlers. See off spells if need be, but never lose sight of scoring and turning the strike over — anything to dismantle them. India will have to challenge Peter Siddle, Ben Hilfenhaus, and James Pattinson. As they showed in the first Test, they are relentless when allowed to settle.

In addition to a batting turnaround, India will need its bowlers to recapture their Melbourne form. R. Ashwin might have a more attacking role to play here at the SCG, on days four and five at least (if the match goes that long). But it's the three seamers that will have to ensure that Australia's batsmen are cut down to size.

The Australian tail was a problem in the first Test. In Pattinson, Siddle, and Hilfenhaus, the home side has a lower-order capable of both stone-walling and stroke-making.

The bowlers need to find a solution; but it'll prove useless if M.S. Dhoni continues to captain conservatively. Wickets, not runs, must remain the primary consideration of captains — even in an age when better protective equipment and the increased emphasis on batting has seen the tail-ender as he was known all but disappear.

India will know the importance of the second Test. Over the last decade — but before England — this was the Test in which India traditionally stormed back during tours. Even at Trent Bridge last year, India at least twice gained command of the Test.

But once its position was overturned, India crumbled mentally.

The 0-4 clean-sweep was waiting to happen. Glenn McGrath, true to form, has already made that prediction. (He actually said 3-0, before learning it was a four-Test series; he admitted he had “stuffed up” and changed it to 4-0).

India's response here in the second Test will tell us a little more about whether England was an aberration or whether it was something worse.

The teams (from):

Australia: Michael Clarke (capt.), Ed Cowan, David Warner, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Ben Hilfenhaus, Nathan Lyon, and Ryan Harris.

India: M.S. Dhoni (capt. & wk), Virender Sehwag (vice-captain), Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman, Virat Kohli, R. Ashwin, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma, Wriddhiman Saha, Abhimanyu Mithun, Vinay Kumar, and Pragyan Ojha.

Umpires: Marais Erasmus and Ian Gould.

Third umpire: Bruce Oxenford.

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle.

Hours of play (IST): 5 a.m. to 7 a.m.; 7.40 a.m. to 9.40 a.m., 10 a.m. to close.