All eyes on batters

AHMEDABAD: The home team’s batters will be desperate to clear the cobwebs from their head as India will eye a second successive World Test Championship (WTC) final berth when it takes on Australia in the fourth and last Test that begins on Thursday at the Narendra Modi Stadium here.

The equation is pretty simple for the host. If the Rohit Sharma-led India team wins the Border-Gavaskar series 3-1, it need not depend on the outcome of Sri Lanka’s away rubber in New Zealand to seal a WTC final spot.

With the Motera track looking firm and likely to offer even bounce, the batters, most of whom struggled on spin-friendly surfaces in the first three Tests, will be keen to give a better account of themselves.

As around 1 lakh spectators, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, are set to witness the opening day’s action, the buzz is expected to reach a crescendo. For maintaining that interest, the likes of Rohit, Virat Kohli and Cheteshwar Pujara will have to come up with better batting performances.

The fact that all-rounder Axar Patel (185 runs) is India’s second-highest scorer in the series, behind Rohit (207 runs), puts things into perspective, underlining the degree of difficulty the batters have faced so far in the assignment. Having played most of his first-class cricket and risen to Test stardom in Ahmedabad, Axar will look to impress on ‘home’ soil once again.

For the visiting team, the spin pack, led by Nathan Lyon, will be eager to continue their good work in favourable conditions. It will be interesting to see if the Steve Smith-led Australia, which has already clinched a slot in the WTC title decider, decides to leave out a spinner in order to make way for an extra pacer.

Home side’s team combination

Pacer Mohammed Shami, who was rested for the Indore Test, will return to the playing eleven while Mohammed Siraj may sit out as he is expected to play a key role in the upcoming three-match ODI series. Head coach Rahul Dravid, on Tuesday, threw his weight behind wicketkeeper-batter KS Bharat, who is facing close competition from Ishan Kishan.