Will Adelaide It On Them?

It will be a very different Test this trip to Adelaide: hotter, more humid and on a deck more likely to spin than seam. Then again, it will also be much of the same: India are demoralised, their champions lost in woeful footwork and abandoned form, their captain muted in the dressing room and the Australians more confident than in three seasons.

What to make of it?

Nathan Lyon looking to celebrate

Australia has dropped Mitchell Starc in favour of Nathan Lyon, a necessary move in the conditions. Perth is, after all, the only place where the four quicks policy can ever find legs. The pitch will hold turn for Lyon and for the skipper's left arm tweekers because two spinners will be handy from day three on. Ben Hilfenhaus and Peter Siddle have moved the ball through the air all summer and the humid conditions likely on the first three days will aid that greatly and any pitch that will entertain turn will pay similar compliments to cut or seam. If Siddle's off cutter could be devastating anywhere else there is no reason to doubt it in Adelaide. Ryan Harris comes home to his original home ground with the constant question mark over his ability to play consecutive Tests within a week.

Interesting fellow Harris. For some reason most think of him as being a seasoned veteran, but here he sneaks his Test record out of single figures. In fact, Adelaide will become the only ground after Perth where he has played a second match.

The batting looks confident apart from Shaun Marsh, who has undergone a severe transformation since those first two Tests in Sri Lanka and he's had more meals than runs since then but the selectors have wisely stuck with him. Whether that will be the case by the time the team takes the field in Bridgetown in early April is another case entirely. If Warner fires again, it could be another Indian blood letting exercise as Adelaide's skinny sides will be well short of holding him. A couple of runners might need to be posted outside the ground at the Victor Richardson Gates to retrieve lost lobs.

Haddin is the other weak link but when sides are winning, even the rusty links are covered in gloss.

She'll be right - Virendar Sehwag

India are a mess. Beaten convincingly in all three Tests, they have failed to respond to Australian conditions despite having a batting list which has both experience and success here. Sehwag, having been forced into the captaincy is talking of batting in the middle order. It didn't work for Dilshan and it won't work for Sehwag. Added responsibility won't help, especially when he didn't want it. Dravid's footwork has been exposed by the cleverness of the Australian plan to move the ball back at his off stump and deny him width. Against lesser attacks last year, he took easy runs out side off stump and then picked them off on slower, lower pitches in the the West Indies, England and at home. Uncomfortable with the ball bouncing above his waist, his bat is coming down from gully/point in order to work the ball to the leg side. As players age, they tend to try and play everything to their strength and his angled backlift and slower reflexes have been unable to cope with the inbound missiles that keep hitting his stumps.

Laxman looks finished and India loose nothing in debuting Rohit Sharma here.

The bright spots have been Sachin Tendular and Virat Kohli but both have to move beyond good starts and well made fifties and make hundreds in Adelaide. Perhaps both can then relax once symonds have been brushed from their backs and get about the business of playing a better standard of cricket.

Pragyan Ohja must play

India must do what they failed to do in Perth and invent their own approach to this Test. Following the Australia philosophy of four pace men into the last Test was a disaster and Adelaide affords them the chance to play their strength and pick two spinners. Therefore Kumar and Ishant Sharma should be removed and Ashwin and Ohja inserted. Using Sehwag as the second spinner distracts him from his real purpose in the team and bothers no one in a confident Australian batting list. Zaheer bothers the Australians the most - one way or the other - and his new ball partner should be the still raw but exciting Umesh Yadav, who bought India back into the game in Perth after Warner had blasted them on the first afternoon.

Wriddhiman Saha comes in for Dhoni. He's a better batsman than wicketkeeper, bought on the tour to fill batting holes and couldn't have thought he would have the gloves when his skipper filled that role. If India don't pick two spinners, he may the reason.

Its hard to see a reversal, despite the heat working against the big Australian pacemen but beyond all else, Australia have a master tactician at the helm and its even harder to imagine him taking the pressure off. No consideration of a dead rubber as another win here lifts Australia up to third on the ICC world Test rankings. Twelve months ago we were fifth.

This Test will last longer than others but it will surprise if it gets to five days.