My Take on The Australian squad

No McGrath, No Warne, not even a Gillespie or a Kasprowicz. Then again – no Langer, no Martyn, no Lehmann or even Hodge. It gets worse both behind and in front of the stumps – no Gilchrist. This is the weakest side Australia has ever sent to India and now is our chance to really rub their number one tag into the ground. This was really my first reaction on seeing the fifteen-member squad announced by Australia the other day. On a closer examination, however, I found that weakest or not, its not as bad as it looks. Oh yes there are some areas of concern and they will move to the category of “grave concern” if there were to be injuries or fitness issues along the way.

Lets have a look at the squad.

• Batsmen: Hayden, Jacques, Ponting, Michael Clarke, Hussey and Katich.
• Bowlers: Brett Lee, Stuart Clarke, Johnson, Bollinger (left-arm fast), Siddle (right-arm fast medium) and McGain (leg spin)
• All rounders (of sorts): Watson and Krejza (off spin)
• Keeper-batsman: Haddin

Only six of them have toured India before, and only four (Ponting, Michael Clarke, Hayden and Katich) have played a Test match here. Important to note that all four are primarily batsmen though Clarke had a dream bowling turn at Wankhede in the last game.

It was clear in November 2004, as the last series between these two teams in India drew to a close, that we were seeing the end of a great Australian side, one of the mightiest of all time. One knew that the mighty bowling duo of McGrath and Warne would not come again and that Langer, Lehmann and Martyn were nearing the end of their careers. What remained to be seen was how Australia built their side in the four years before they came back. Frankly they haven’t done too badly.

Phil Jaques and Mike Hussey are here to replace Langer and Martyn. Not bad. The presence of a batsman like Hussey in the middle order makes up for the breaking of the top duo of Hayden and Langer. In any case not too uneven on balance. Lehmann hasn’t been replaced as the Aussies come this time with one man less than the sixteen who made the class of 2004. That leads me to my first worry – not from the playing eleven but from the bench strength.

Here are the two sides from a playing XI perspective. For the current side I have assumed the role of squad selector for want of assistance from the tour management.

Playing         INDIA         INDIA
Squad           2004            2008-09

1                      Hayden         Hayden
2                     Langer          Jaques
3                     Ponting         Ponting
4                     Katich           Katich
5                     Martyn          Hussey
6                     Clarke            Clarke
7                     Gilchrist        Haddin
8                     McGrath       Brett Lee
9                     Gillespie       Clark
10                   Kasprowicz   Johnson
11                    Warne           McGain


Man for man it is nowhere like being the same side and most glaringly, McGain is not Shane Warne, but overall, the playing squad (assuming I am Nostradamus) is a very decent one and must be expected to give a very good account of itself. The problem lies in those sitting outside.

In the batting department, Australia had a frontline batsman sitting outside in Lehmann. In addition they had Brad Hodge and Watson. This time there is no Lehman (or a replacement for him and while Watson is there, whether Krejza is a Brad Hodge, is unknown. Last time around Ponting could play in only one Test. Australia called upon Lehmann who wasn’t great but his 70 at Nagpur was a useful innings in a big Aussie win. Perhaps, Australia feels Watson is now mature enough to handle the job if required. We shall see. This is assuming that Haddin will do as well as Gilchrist did last time - a century in the first Test win and an average in the low thirties.

The bowling is more critical. With McGrath, Gillespie, Kasprowicz and Warne (Clarke and Lehmann in support), Australia had a very strong attack in the playing squad with at least one man, Brett Lee, to call upon if need be and another, Watson, for dire emergency.

This time we already have a weakness in the spin (McGain for Warne) and the bench has Watson, Bollinger, Siddle and Krejza. A lot of untried stuff here. It would be interesting to see if Australia plays Bollinger. He is supposed to be quick – the Brett Lee of 2004? I would love to see him bowl. McGain is another I would love to see bowl here. He is lucky he is coming at a time when the Indian middle order is struggling. Savaging an untried (not young) bowler in his first series may not be on their priorities. Sachin might though. Lets see.

If I were an Australian selector, I would have brought in another batsman –either as a sixteenth member or to replace one of the bowlers – Krejza or Siddle.

On balance, I would say, barring injuries, Australia are in good shape and considering the poor form of late of the Indian batsmen, the contest might still be a tight one. It need not have been so. With an Indian line up firing at full strength one would have thought it was a terrific opportunity to win the series. On the other hand, with Indian batting, apparently at its lowest ebb in recent times, Australia could have looked to one of their most decisive wins in India but for so many being wet behind the years.

It is sad that we have a close, even exciting, series on hand between two sides which are struggling to look as good as their predecessors.