Wanted An Encore at Adelaide

Fours years back, India did the unthinkable beating Australia in Australia even after getting tonked for 400 runs on the first day of the test match with Ricky Pointing going on hit a monumental double century, and then India lost 4 wickets for less then 100 runs on board. As was the case in Kolkatta , Rahul dravid & VVS Laxman had other plans and put on a partnership of 300+ runs after which, Agarkar joined the party with some great seam bowling and skittled out Australia for a score of less than 200. The target of 230 was achieved and for the first time since the days of Allan Border, a visiting team went one up on the Aussies.

If Rahul Dravid and Laxman come to the party this time around as they did in 2003-04 then it's going to be a tall task for the Aussies to force the result in their favor and then there is a small thing of Sachin Tendulkar, who might want to make amends to the modest record he has over here, as always he looks solid and I won't be surprised if he signs off this test match, which most probably will be his last test in Australia, with one of his special knocks. Jaffer has been having a pretty poor series and I think he will be dropped for this test match and won't be surprised if Bajji is brought in his place, as the pitch over here suits spin bowling. That being the case I think Pathan will open with Sehwag, as Dravid has never been comfortable with opening. Once again Dinesh Karthik being unlucky to be left out, but his chance will come sooner or later.

Australia have no such worries with Matthew Hayden coming in for Chris rogers, which should be a big relief for them with those twin failures of the top-order, in both the innings of the Perth test. Shaun Tait might be replaced with Brad Hogg, who has to deliver the goods for this might be his last chance to resurrect his test career with Stuart MacGill breathing down his neck.

After the performance in Perth the Indians will be cock-a-hoop and Australia will be looking to win this match, and show that Perth was just an aberration. India was the last country against whom Australia lost back-to-back test matches and if Aussies do lose again in Adelaide, won't be a surprise to me.

Laxman Sizzles at SCG

There is something in SCG which gets the best out of VVS Laxman, who overcame his inner demons and announced himself to the world way back in 1999-2000 with a dazzling knock that left the Australians in awe of him for the first time. Then came the absolute binder of innings in 2003-04 where he even over shadowed Sachin's 241 which almost gate crashed Steven Waugh's farewell. So it was apt that he chose SCG as a canvas to paint another masterpiece and in doing so broke upon the shackles that the Australian bowlers tried to impose upon the Indian batsmen just like they did in the last test at MCG.

It was important for the Indians to restrict the Australians in the morning but they couldn't do it with Bret lee and then Michel Johnson getting some easy runs while Symonds played a curiously subdued knock by his standards so much so that both the fast bowlers out scored him. Stuart Clarke like a true number eleven didn't bother the scorers, all the three wickets to fall picked up by Kumble , who I thought missed a thing or two by not bringing himself into the attack earlier. Australian innings ended on a score of 463 and they would have taken it after they were 135/6 yesterday.

Jaffer was undone by Brett lee's pace and Dravid at the other end was finding non-existent demons in the pitch and was also struggling with his timing, at times making a complete fool of himself, but kudos to him for digging in there and not giving away his wicket. That bloodymindedness coupled with Laxman's sublime stroking took the Indians into ascendancy and just when it looked like Dravid-Laxman partnership was taking away the game from the Aussies, Mitchell johnson struck having dravid caught at second slip and laxman soon followed spooning an easy catch to Hussey of brad hogg's bowling. Dravid did well to score 53, and was helped on the way by some shoddy work behind the stumps by Gilchrist, who was having one of those rare bad days with giving a reprieve each to Laxman and Dravid. Laxman's century had everything you would expect from him, those flicks through mid-wicket, straight drives and those gorgeous cover drives and this was on full display in one Johnson's over when he picked off18 runs in 5 balls. It's really so easy on your eyes and a pleasure to watch batsmen like Laxman play in full flow compared to the power hitting that you so often watch these days. He is right up there with the likes of Zaheer Abbas, David Gower & Mark Wagh.

The match is evenly poised at the end of day 2 with Sachin looking good for a big one in the company of Ganguly. So it's going to be an interesting day of cricket tomorrow and with the kind of cricket that's been on display for the last two days, it would be foolish to write off test cricket yet.