Upbeat India aim at increasing lead in Hyderabad

After putting the visitors on the mat riding on Mahendra Singh Dhoni39s individual brilliance and an equally impressive show from offspinner Ravichandran Ashwin the home team would aim to guard against complacency having learnt their lesson the hard way from the England series Dhoni and his men would be determined to ensure that Australians aren39t let off the hook like Alastair Cook39s England who rallied to win the previous Test series 21 The Indian captain39s superlative effort in Chennai could well turn into a series defining knock and his leading from the front is the shot in the arm that the team required as it was not performing as per expectations in the longer format The last time India played at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium in Uppal they inflicted a humiliating innings and 115run defeat on New Zealand with Ashwin grabbing 12 for 85 That particular match which ended on the fourth day could well have ended inside three days had weather not played spoilsport on the curtailed second and third day Therefore Team India will certainly not deviate from their 39turning track template39 and Ashwin and co will certainly have a huge role to play again as the hosts look to go for the kill A 20 lead will not only push the Aussies back to the wall but it will also ensure that making a comeback in the fourTest series will be practically impossible for the visitors The hosts also have lesser worries regarding the team composition save whether they would be playing local boy Pragyan Ojha on his home ground Even though both Murali Vijay and Virender Sehwag flopped in Chennai Dhoni and the team management are unlikely to tinker with the opening combination as he had indicated at the post match press conference after the first Test The Indian captain has never been a firm believer in too much of chopping and changing and might just like to go in with the winning combination Both Harbhajan Singh and Virender Sehwag failed to impress in the first Test Pic PTI The middleorder picks itself and the question arises whether Ojha who certainly got a raw deal in Chennai gets to play in front of his home crowd Bowling combination is one area where Dhoni will need to put in some thought While Ojha is a far better leftarm spinner than Ravindra Jadeja the Saurashtra allrounder did his cause no harm by picking five wickets in the first Test and complementing Ashwin well Harbhajan Singh wasn39t at his best in the first innings but looked like hitting some form in the second innings where he got important wickets of David Warner and Matthew Wade Playing four spinners can be a luxury as was proved during the Nagpur Test against England as Piyush Chawla was the one who was underbowled in both innings But in order to put more pressure on Australia that39s the only way to fit Ojha in at the expense of a pacer It is an open secret that Ishant Sharma and Bhuvneshwar Kumar don39t have the ability to generate consistent reverse swing with the old ball and their pace is hardly troubling the Aussie batsmen with the new ball Dhoni might just be tempted to drop one among Ishant and Bhuvneshwar who collectively sent down 33 overs in the first game with Ishant getting three in the second innings coming in to bowl in the 76th over The debutant UP pacer didn39t get to bowl at all Bhuvneshwar however was praised for his patient knock which helped Dhoni reach his double century and give India a winning lead of 192 runs The Australians on the other hand will certainly be tempted to a play a second specialist spinner but even skipper Michael Clarke knows it all too well that neither Nathan Lyon is of Graeme Swann39s class nor does leftarm spinner Xavier Doherty possess the calibre of a Monty Panesar While Doherty39s performance was the best among the spinners during practice games IPL39s newest 39Million Dollar Man39 Glenn Maxwell will be in the selection radar considering he is a capable batsman With Australia39s middleorder performing below expectations a few changes could be expected Phillip Hughes39 way of countering spin wouldn39t have inspired the highest level of confidence Usman Khawaja is Hughes39 direct replacement but there remains a possibility that Shane Watson would be pushed to the No 3 slot fitting in Maxwell in the middleorder This move will also give the Aussies a chance to push in Doherty by dropping either Peter Siddle or Mitchell Starc The bottomline for Australia however will remain how well their skipper bats The visitors would want that Clarke who is inarguably their best player of spin bowling leads the charge once again Ideally they would like Clarke to follow in Cook39s footsteps and he has already set the tone with an impressive century in Chennai A lot of responsibility will also rest on Shane Watson39s shoulders as he is playing in this series purely as a batsman Watson is a vital cog in the Aussie setup and his performance with the willow will certainly have a lot of impact in the remainder of the series Moises Henriques39 lionhearted effort must have given Clarke the confident feeling of not only having a batsman adept in handling the Indian tweakers but also a steady wickettowicket medium pacer which gives the skipper chance to play around with his options Squads India from Mahendra Singh Dhoni capt Virender Sehwag Murali Vijay Shikhar Dhawan Cheteshwar Pujara Sachin Tendulkar Virat Kohli Ajinkya Rahane Ravindra Jadeja Ravichandran Ashwin Harbhajan Singh Pragyan Ojha Ishant Sharma Ashok Dinda Bhuvneshwar Kumar Australia from Michael Clarke capt Ed Cowan David Warner Phil Hughes Shane Watson Matthew Wade Glenn Maxwell Mitchell Johnson Peter Siddle Mitchell Starc Nathan Lyon Moises Henriques James Pattinson Xavier Doherty Jackson Bird Usman Khawaja Steve Smith Match starts at 930 am IST u00a0