Haan G, Naa G!

Much of Monday here was damp bleak borderline depressing A cold stiff wind blew across the city the rain came down in waves stinging and slanting and dying down almost immediately The start of the week leading up to Christmas deserved better but how does man fight natureOff day for IndiansEntirely by accident Indiarsquos cricketers had Monday off after two days of hard toil on the practice surfaces outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground MCG that Akash Deep the feisty paceman termed lsquowhiteballrsquo pitches The deck for the fourth Test beginning on Boxing Day Thursday is unlikely to bear any resemblance to the pitches at the nets that the Indians used on Saturday and Sunday though curator Matt Page denied any conspiracy saying the MCG protocol was to prepare practice pitches from three days before the game mdash Monday in this instanceAlso ReadIndian bowling is looking a little weak Cheteshwar Pujara lashes out on Team IndiaThe leadup to the fourth Test with the series in the balance at 11 has been prickly and needlessly tense with misunderstandings abounding and sections of the Australian media resorting to convenient twisting of the facts to paint Indiarsquos players in poor light Itrsquos unlikely any of this gamesmanship will have any impact on the players many of whom have been there and seen it all There is an effective insulation mechanism in which the cricketers cocoon themselves In any case a vast majority will be focused on how they can return to run and wickettaking ways rather than be distracted by offfield developments over which they have little controlIndia would have gladly taken the current score line at this stage of the fivematch series had they been offered it before Perth last month Their fans feared the worst after the 03 shellacking at home by New Zealand but India regrouped spectacularly at the Optus Stadium in skipper Rohit Sharmarsquos absence to eke out a memorable 295run victory Australia were more than rattled There were rumours of fissures within the camp but a return to Adelaide and their date with the pinkball Test settled all nerves the hosts drawing level following a commanding 10wicket winItrsquos a twoTest series nowAustralia lorded the exchanges in Brisbane before late Indian resistance and hours of precipitation induced a frustrating stalemate Now this is almost a twoTest series played backtoback in Melbourne and Sydney two of Australiarsquos more iconic grounds The MCG is officially a sellout for Thursdayrsquos Day One and it will be an atmosphere like no other with close to 90000 fans expected to soak in the entertainment and add their own voice and noise to amp up the battleItrsquos the confluence of these elements mdash passion drive noise electricity expectations mdash that compel champions to shake off their slumber Itrsquos into this cauldron that Sam Konstas all of 19 years young will walk on his first day as a Test cricketer The New South Welshman is primed to open the batting alongside veteran Usman Khawaja and is braced for a baptism of fire considering he will straightaway walk into Jasprit Bumrah on top of his game and currently carrying Australia in the palm of his handIndia have great memories of the MCG where four of their 10 Test wins in Australia have come including two on the bounce in 2018 and more famously in 2020 A threepeat will extend their hold on the BorderGavaskar Trophy Is there any greater motivation