Score them fast and win!

A consistent Australian team fancy their chances of winning the lsquofinal frontierrsquo contest against IndiaAustraliarsquos confidence is based on a settled batting lineup a well balanced pace attack capable of producing oldball swing if the conditions prevail and a successful spin bowlerNevertheless this will be a tough challenge also referred to in Australia as Everest as the Indian side are powerful and almost impossible to defeat in home conditionsWhile it is more than a decade since India lost a series at home England 21 in 2012 Australia are portraying confidence after displaying strong form on their own pitches Their confidence is further boosted by a serious injury to Rishabh Pant which means the wicketkeeperbatsmanrsquos gregarious personality will be sorely missedIndian pitches a challengeHowever it is one thing to be confident of a playerrsquos batting ability under Australian conditions but yet another to wonder how theyrsquoll perform on entirely different Indian pitches This is an area where Australian batsmenmdashSteven Smith apartmdashhave to prove themselvesRishabh PantSmith at 60 is the only current Australian batsman on the tour to average more than 30 in India This will be a big challenge for those Australian batsmen especially if Ravindra Jadeja bowls successfully in partnership with the highly efficient Ravichandran AshwinThen therersquos Australiarsquos spin department Nathan Lyon is the only proven performer and even he averages in excess of 30 for his Test wickets in India While Lyon feels hersquos improved as a bowler on the subcontinent hersquos supported by bowlers like Ashton Agar and Mitchell Swepson who are both unproven quantitiesAustralia need to ditch any temptation to obey the right and leftarm theory and only choose the best bowlers for the conditionsAustraliarsquos confidence in their pace bowlers also need to be tempered by what they have achieved in India Australiarsquos big threemdashPat Cummins Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starcmdashall average in excess of 30 in India and theyrsquoll need to particularly display improved old ball nous to achieve better results in IndiaIn general the selectors have chosen form players who have shown they can perform in Australia But now they have to succeed under vastly different conditionsVisitors heavy on ammoAustraliarsquos greatest asset before the series gets underway is their confidence stemming from stability A big test for the team is how long they can maintain that confidence under pressure from IndiaA lot of Australiarsquos faith leading into the tour is based on them winning in 200405 thanks to the success of their pace bowlers Once again this needs to be tempered by the knowledge that the success was mainly based on two champion bowlers in Glenn McGrath and Jason GillespieAlso Read Ian Chappell is not favour of lifting Warners captaincy ban says he is too old for leadership roleAll eyes on pace batteryHence a lot will depend on the success or otherwise of Australiarsquos big three pace bowlersThe Indian side also have some points to prove not the least being how Pantrsquos replacement performsThe main thing India will lose from Pantrsquos unavailability is an excellent runrate stemming from his belligerent aggression No one can replace Pantrsquos desire to dominate bowlers so India have to rely on their top batsmen not only performing but also maintaining a good strike rateOne of the main tasks for Indian players like Rohit Sharma Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara will be to establish mental superiority over Lyon If Australia canrsquot rely on Lyon claiming regular wickets at an acceptable rate the bowling will then depend greatly on the big threeOzrsquos No 4 a thorn for hostsThe main task for Indiarsquos bowlers will be to find a way to keep the heavyscoring Smith quiet If India is able to limit Smith and Lyonrsquos success they will be on the way to winning matchesTest series between good teams have a way of bringing out the best in the most competitive players This series has all the portents of a hardfought one with very little between two excellent sides These sides are two of Test cricketrsquos dwindling number of really good teams but itrsquos hard to go past India as the eventual victors