Epic battle on the cards

Harsha Bhogle feels tonight’s India-Australia encounter might well be a dress rehearsal of the WT20 finals if both sides play as per expectation.

The Kensington Oval now is among the best grounds I have seen. It wasn’t always like that, I can assure you. Much more stark and possessed of a bouncy track that grew increasingly slow. Now the bounce is back, there is very good carry but also decent turn for the spinners. If that gives you the impression that it is all about bowling, not true. The ball comes on pretty well and that means batsmen who like to hit shots are doing ok.

And so as India get ready to face Australia, the key word is going to be “bounce”. Australia have the bowlers to exploit it (they must hope that Mitchell Johnson is fit) and India must find a plan to counter it. For a start, a short pitched ball means no bowled or lbw so if you handle it, it’s actually a plus.

But because Australia will come hard, I think the openers will be the key for India, especially Gambhir because he is equipped well enough to play that kind of bowling. It helps too that the other opener isn’t just another makeshift slogger but a proper opener. The other major area of strength for Australia is their fielding which was sensational in the game against Bangladesh. And so India will have to score 15 more to win.

Having said that, the track offers fair turn and bounce to the spinners. Harbhajan in particular should enjoy bowling on it against an opposition that seems to inspire him to do better. He gets under their skin and that is, on most days, good for him. India will have to decide therefore whether to play Vinay Kumar on this track or go in with the extra spinner. That decision will also tell us how much faith the captain has in his fourth seamer.

This could well be a preview of the final if both teams play to expectation. Grip and turn, advantage India. Bounce and even pace, advantage Australia. Both exist… Who will use their weapons better?