Good to have best bowlers together

Source: Hindustan Times     Date: October 05, 2004

The slam-bang of one-day cricket is over for the time being and it is back to the 'real' thing -- Test cricket. And what better than an Indo-Australia series to set the ball rolling.

I have always maintained that the first Test of any series is very important, more so the first day because it usually sets the tone of the series. The last two Test series between these two countries have witnessed high-voltage drama, great intensity and good quality of cricket.

The expectations will be high, once again and I am sure it will be exciting to watch and hopefully at the end of it all we would have given our supporters something to cheer about.

The wicket at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore is bone dry. From the look of it, the wicket will turn more and more as the match progresses. Spinners, therefore, will have a big role play in the match. The last couple of times we played Australia -- home and away -- we had only one fit spinner in our ranks.

However, this time we have both Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh fit and raring to go. I am looking forward to watch them bowling in tandem after a long time.

Also, it is good to have Zaheer Khan back. He looks fit and bowled with a lot of fire in the four-day practice game -- India Senior vs India A -- in Bangalore. With Zaheer back in the fold, Indian bowling looks good. In fact, for the first time in recent times, all our top bowlers will be operating together, which is a very good thing for our team.

Needless to say, we will miss Sachin Tendulkar, while the Aussies will miss Ricky Ponting. However, the good thing is that Sachin's progress has been steady and we hope to have him firing in Chennai.

There is plenty of hype surrounding this four-Test series. It will be followed all over the world. That is natural when two of the top teams in the sport are clash to assert their supremacy.

It is nice to see Sunil Gavaskar being a part of the Indian team at last as the technical consultant of the side. Sunny's vast experience will be for us. It will also help coach John Wright as Sunny will, no doubt, come in with fresh ideas.

The BCCI went through a lot of turmoil over the past week, but they need to be congratulated for this wonderful gesture. All we need is a bowling coach to help our fast bowlers.

Playing Australia is always a big challenge. They are a top side, so any good result against them gives more satisfaction. It's up to us to do the job now.