Gambhir ban leaves India with tough task in final Test

S S Ramaswamy

Nagpur, Nov 5 (PTI) India will miss the services of
in-form Gautam Gambhir as they go into the fourth and final
cricket Test against Australia here Thursday, seeking to wrest
the Border-Gavaskar Trophy despite a weakened batting line up
and a brand new opening combination.

Gambhir's absence means that India will have a new
opening partner for Virender Sehwag for the crucial match with
24-year-old Tamil Nadu opener M Vijay set to make his Test
debut.

In a highly controversial decision, the International
Cricket Council (I.C.C.) Appeals Commissioner Justice Albie
Sachs Tuesday upheld a one-Test ban on Gambhir without even
hearing him which the Board of Control for Cricket in India
(B.C.C.I.) refused to accept, saying it violated principles of
natural justice.

Gambhir has been the nightmare for the Australian bowlers
in the series so far having scored 463 runs, inclusive of a
double hundred and a century, for an average in excess of 77.

And Justice Sachs' decision has dealt a huge blow to
India's hopes of either winning or drawing the crucial Test on
a virgin pitch at the newly constructed Vidarbha Cricket
Association Stadium at Jamtha.

The Delhi batsman's form in the series has rattled the
Australians so much so that their leading scorer in the
series, Mike Hussey, said Tuesday his team would be happy if
Gambhir is unable to play.

The focus will also be on Sourav Ganguly's who will play
his last Test and the Indians should be careful not to get
distracted by the ocassion.

A largely unknown opener M. Vijay has been pitch-forked
straightaway into the thick of the hard-fought battle against
Australia from domestic cricket by the selectors as
replacement for Gambhir.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has indicated that Vijay
will play the match, which means that the Indian think tank is
not to keen to experiment with specialist positions.

The other option for the team is to once again summon the
services of Rahul Dravid to bail out the side by opening the
innings as he had done in the past with a large degree of
success, notably on the tour of Pakistan in 2006 when he led
the side.

But Dravid, no longer the impenetrable "Wall" and with
a very modest tally of 117 runs in five innings in the series,
may not be in the right frame of mind to do the all-important
job of giving the Indian team a solid start for middle order
stalwarts Sachin Tendulkar, V.V.S. Laxman -- set to join the
100-Test club -- and Ganguly to build upon a huge edifice.

The hosts were already a bit unsettled before the Gambhir
blow by the retirement of their leading wicket-taker and
skipper Anil Kumble at the end of the drawn Test in New Delhi.

With the imminent retirement of another veteran
campaigner and former captain Sourav Ganguly to follow after
the conclusion of the last Test here, it would be a monumental
task for the home team's players to maintain their
concentration and focus after having taken a 1-0 lead in the
series at Mohali.

Still, the team with the aggressive Dhoni at the helm, is
capable of pulling itself up by the bootstraps in the face of
severe odds though India has not done well in this city in the
recent past having tasted defeat four years ago and with it
the series loss against the same opponents on a green-top
wicket at the old VCA stadium.

On the plus side for the hosts is the fact that the
bowling attack is largely undisturbed barring the absence of
Kumble which gives chance for Amit Mishra to play his third
Test on the trot, with the fit-again Harbhajan Singh who is
one short of completing 300 Test wickets at the other end -- a
combination that served the team well in whipping the
visitors by a huge margin at Mohali.

But the Australians have also moved on from that crushing
defeat and the top-order batsmen, including India's past
nemesis Matthew Hayden, have rediscovered their wonted touch
punctuated by their strong reply to the hosts' plus-600 score
in the drawn third encounter in New Delhi.

The rhythm and speed exhibited by their spearhead Brett
Lee in the second innings at Ferozeshah Kotla, after
struggling in the first two Tests, is also a big plus for the
visitors who are mulling how to harness their bowling unit
into taking 20 wickets and clinch the all-important Test here.

There are indications that leg spinner Cameron White will
make way for uncapped offie Jason Krejza to add some more bite
to the tourists' less-than-average spin attack, but even the
pace attack may see a change.

The toss is expected to be of vital importance as the
pitch and the ground conditions are new to both the teams.
Batting first could turn out to be a masterstroke, though
Vidarbha Cricket Association officials said that the pitch has
been rolled continuously for almost a month in the run-up to
this encounter.

India have a 50:50 win-loss record in the earlier venue
in the heart of the city. Significantly in the last two Tests
in the Orange City the home team was defeated by Australia and
had to fight hard to force a draw against England two years
ago.

Dhoni and Co. would be hoping a change of ground would
bring in happy tidings this time around, despite the off-field
happenings over the last few days.

The Teams (from):

India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (capt), Virender Sehwag,
Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, V V S Laxman, Sourav Ganguly,
Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Amit Mishra, Ishant Sharma, S
Badrinath, M Vijay and R P Singh.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Matthew Hayden, Simon
Katich, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Brad Haddin, Shane
Watson, Cameron White, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart
Clark, Jason Krejza, Doug Bollinger, Peter Siddle and Shaun
Marsh.

Umpires: Billy Bowden and Aleem Dar.

Third umpire: Suresh Shastri

Match Referee: Chris Broad.

Hours of play: 9:30-11:30 am; 12:15-2:15 pm; 2:30 to
4:30 pm. PTI SSR
AM