This Australian side can break a 31-year-old jinx

By common consent, the best of the eight Australian squads to visit India in the last 45 years is the 1959-60 team. That was a nicely balanced outfit. The batting in the hands of Colin McDonald, Les Favell, Neil Harvey, Norman O'Neill and Ken Mackay seemed to have everything - skill and solidity, elegance and experience. The bowling - Alan Davidson, Richie Benaud, Ian Meckiff, Ray Lindwall and Lindsay Kline - had variety and penetration. Davidson and Benaud were the leading all rounders in the game and Wally Grout the top wicketkeeper in the world. They came to India as an all conquering side and if they could win the five match series only by a 2-1 margin, it was more due to a stout hearted display by a rejuvenated Indian side rather than any shortcomings on the part of the visitors.

The team under Bill Lawry ten years later was also quite formidable. The batting - Lawry, Keith Stackpole, Ian Chappell, Ian Redpath, Doug Walters and Paul Sheahan - was strong while the bowling - Graham McKenzie, Alan Connolly, John Gleeson and Ashley Mallett - was quite capable. In direct contrast to Benaud's side, they won the five match series 3-1 because of certain vital failings by the home team and not because of any extraordinary showing on their part. Since then the Australians have come to India four times and not won a single series. In 1979-80, a weak Australian side, bereft of the Packer players, went down 2-0 in the six match series. In 1986-87, the first Test ended in a tie while the two other games were drawn. The one-off Test ten years later was lost and the three-match series held in March 1998 was won by India by two matches to one.

There has been a lot of hype about Australia not winning a Test series in India for 31 years. So is the present side, announced today, good enough to break the jinx? It would appear so for more reasons than one.

For starters, the visitors are on a kind of roll that has not been experienced by any team in the history of the game. Having won 15 Tests in a row and also nine ODI's on the trot till today, Australia's confidence must be sky high. Secondly, they are up against an Indian side which cannot exactly boast an enviable record. In the first place, just last year they lost a home series for the first time in 13 years. And secondly, in the absence of Anil Kumble, the Indian bowling attack is without its most successful bowler in the last decade and looks emaciated.

By selecting four pace bowlers and only two spinners, Australia have played to their strength. Shane Warne had a nightmarish time the last time around (ten wickets in the three Tests at 54 apiece) and one just cannot see him fare very much better this time. Colin Miller, whatever the success he has had at home, is hardly the type who would be a source of worry for the Indian batsman. The pace quartet of McGrath, Fleming, Gillespie and Kasprowicz has a better chance of bowling the Indians out twice rather than Warne and Miller despite the prospect of dull, lifeless pitches at the three Test venues of Mumbai, Calcutta and Madras.

Indeed, in the past too, pacemen have served Australia better than spinners on the sub-continent. With the exception of Richie Benaud (52 wickets in eight Tests) and Ashley Mallett (28 wickets in five Tests), pacemen have held the key to an Australian success story in India, as the efforts of Alan Davidson (29 wickets in five Tests in 1959-60), Graham McKenzie (34 wickets in eight Tests in 1964 and 1969) and Geoff Dymock (24 in five Tests in 1979-80) will testify. Of the present bunch, Kasprowicz himself bowled Australia to victory with innings figures of five for 28 in the final Test in Bangalore on the last tour after India had already clinched the series with wins in Chennai and Calcutta.

The Australians' mighty batting might ultimately prove to be tbeir trump card. The presence of the Waugh brothers, Damien Martyn, Michael Slater, Ricky Ponting, Matthew Hayden, Justin Langer and Adam Gilchrist could prove to be an embarrassment of riches for the skipper. Also, the fact that half the side has played in India on previous tours with Steve Waugh the only survivor of the 1986 trip is bound to be one more factor in their favour.

At a press conference in Chennai today in the midst of the conditioning camp, Indian captain Sourav Ganguly seemed to dismiss the awesome record of the Australians by saying that they had won more at home. "They lost in 1996 and again in 1998 and so obviously that's going to be in the back of their minds." He was of the view that both India and Australia had an even chance of winning. All this may help in boosting the morale of the home team. But then it will take more than just pep talk to halt the Aussie winning machine from continuing on its roll.

The Australian squad:

Steve Waugh (capt), Adam Gilchrist (vice-capt), Damien Fleming, Jason Gillespie, Matthew Hayden, Michael Kasprowicz, Justin Langer, Damien Martyn, Glenn McGrath, Colin Miller, Ricky Ponting, Michael Slater, Shane Warne, Mark Waugh. Steve Bernard (Manager), John Buchanan (coach), Errol Alcott (physiotherapist), Jock Campbell (Fitness adviser) and Mike Walsh (Cricket analyst)