On February 26, India will be playing nearly do or die game against Australia in Commonwealth Bank Series. A win by India in this game will make the series interesting with all three team with chance to get in or out of the Commonwealth Bank Series final.

Indian Batsmen Need to Step In

Team India has combination of young and experienced talented players, despite of that they are surprisingly underperforming in this series. The figure can easily be pointed at their batsmen, especially top order batsmen, who constantly failed in last several games to give India solid opening stand.

Indian batting look totally different when their opening batsmen lay in solid foundation, now, the onus is on experienced players like Tendulkar & Sehwag to give Team India a decent start.

At the same time, India also gave ample opportunities to younger players like Rohit Sharma to cement their place in the regular playing XI, but they fail big time to cash in this rare opportunity.

Despite of Dhoni’s recent claim about India’s senior like Tendulkar, Sehwag, Gambhir being little slow on big Australian grounds and cost them 20 runs or so in field, I would be highly surprised if I don’t see them again to gather for this nearly do or die game.

Jadeja Obsessed Dhoni

Its well know fact that Indian skipper MS Dhoni is the biggest (and may be of the fewest) fan of so called all rounder Ravindra Jadeda, although having average performance in the series, he still enjoys his regular appearance in final XI.

Now is the time for Dhoni to have out of the box thinking. He needs to understand that instead of going for five specialist bowlers (one of them being Jadeda), he should go after four specialist bowlers and 3 part time bowlers in Sehwag, Raina & Kohli are capable of fill in for fifth bowlers. India needs depth in batting department; player like Manoj Tiwari can definitely strengthen the batting depth.

Here is the proposed balanced Final XI

1 Sachin Tendulkar, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Gautam Gambhir, 4 Virat Kohli, 5 MS Dhoni , 6 Suresh Raina, 7 Manoj Tiwar, 8 Irfan Pathan, 9 R Ashwin, 10 Praveen Kumar, 11 Umesh Yadav

Australia 333 & 8 for 179 (Hussey 79*, Ponting 60, Yadav 4-49) lead India 282 (Tendulkar 73, Dravid 68, Sehwag 67, Hilfenhaus 5-75) by 230 runs.

Australia were 179 for eight in their second innings and stretched their lead to 230 runs at stumps against India on the third day of the first cricket Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) here Wednesday.

Mike Hussey was batting on 79 and James Pattinson three at close of play. Earlier in the day, India were bowled out for 282 in the first innings in reply to Australia’s 333.

Earlier in the day, fast bowler Ben Hilfenhaus wrecked India’s middle-order with his maiden five-wicket haul (5/75) to give Australia a vital 51 run first innings lead. Peter Siddle bagged three for 63 while James Pattinson got two for 55.

Resuming at an overnight 214 for three, Indian batsmen struggled against the pace and swing generated by the Australian fast bowlers during the morning session. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin offered some resistance with his quickfire 31 off 35 balls.

Hilfenhaus dismissed Rahul Dravid, who failed to add to his overnight score of 68, with the second ball of the day and then removed Virat Kohli (11) with the second ball of his second spell.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar Thursday surpassed all past and present cricketers in the world, knocking the largest number of centuries in Tests.

With his 40th Test century in the fourth and final Test against Australia here, Tendulkar eclipsed all records of Test centuries. Breaking Sunil Gavaskar s record of most Test centuries in India, Tendulkar scored his 17th Test hundred in India and 40th overall in the fourth and final Test against Australia here. He is the second batsman to record 10 Test hundreds against Australia. England s Jack Hobbs had made 12. Tendulkar also crossed Allan Border tally of 90 fifty-plus – 27 centuries + 63 fifties.

Tendulkar now has 91 fifty-plus innings (40 centuries + 51 fifties). Other statistical highlights of the day: # V. V. S. Laxman became the eighth Indian and the 46th in Test annals to appear in 100 Tests. # The eight Indian players with 100 Tests are: Sachin Tendulkar (154), Anil Kumble (132), Kapil Dev (131), Rahul Dravid (129), Sunil Gavaskar (125), Dilip Vengsarkar (116), Sourav Ganguly (113) and V. V. S. Laxman (100). # Laxman s innings of 64 off 141 balls is the highest innings by an Indian player, playing in his 100th Test match, eclipsing Kapil Dev s 55 against Pakistan at Karachi in 1989-90. # Laxman, during the course of his 10th fifty against Australia, completed 1,000 runs this year.

For the first time in his Test career, he has accomplished the feat. # Virender Sehwag s 16th Test fifty is his sixth against Australia. # Sehwag, when he was on 21,completed 5,000 runs in the opening slot – 5,037 at an average of 53.02 in 99 innings, including 14 centuries and 14 fifties. # Sehwag is the second Indian and the 21st in the world to aggregate 5,000 runs as an opener. Sunil Gavaskar holds the world record for aggregating 9,607 at an average of 50.30,including 33 hundreds and 42 fifties in 203 innings. # Rahul Dravid s fourth duck against Australia is his seventh overall in Test Cricket. # Dravid s duck off the second ball is his second in India. His first duck in India was against Australia in the 2004-05 Bangalore Test. # Dravid s series average of 19.50 – 117 runs in six innings — is his worst in a four-Test rubber.

His worst ever series average is 15.50 against Australia in Australia in 1998-99 – 93 in six innings (three Tests) without a fifty. # Dravid s average this year is now 31.38 – his worst ever in a calendar year – 659 in 23 innings (13 Tests), including one century and four fifties. Since January 2007,he has averageed 33.28 in 42 innings (23 Tests), including two hundreds and seven fifties. # Sachin (384) became the third batsman after Gautam Gambhir (463) and Laxman (377) to aggregate 300-plus in the present series. # Tendulkar and Laxman put on 146 runs – this is the second best partnership by this pair for the fourth wicket against Australia – the best being 353 at Sydney in 2003-04.

Watch video highlights of Day 2 of the 3rd Test match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy played at Delhi. Watch video highlights of Indian 1st Innings…

Video Highlights – Day 2- 3rd Test Match – Delhi

1. Indian Innings on Day 2(India won the toss and elected to bat)

Watch video highlights of Day 1 of the 3rd Test match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy played at Delhi. Watch video highlights of Indian 1st Innings…

Video Highlights – Day 1- 3rd Test Match – Delhi

1. Indian Innings on Day 1(India won the toss and elected to bat)

Watch video highlights of Day 4 of 2nd Test match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy played at Mohali. Watch video highlights of Australian 2nd innings and Indian 2nd innings

Video Highlights – Day 4 – 2nd Test Match – Mohali

1. Australian wickets 2nd Innings on Day 4 – Mohali Test Match

2. Virendra Sehwag Batting Highlights – India 2nd Innings – Mohali Test Match

Watch video highlights of Day 5 (Final day) – First Test match India vs Australia 2008-09 Border Gavasakar Trophy. Match will be played on 9-13 October at Bangalore.

Video Highlights 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus @ Bangalore

Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5

Video Highlights – Day 5 – Bangalore Test Match – 2008

1. Day 5 – Indian Innings – Morning Session

2. Indian Wickets on Day 5 – 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus

3. Video Highlights – India 2nd Innings

4. Wicket of Rahul Dravid – India 2nd Innings – Bangalore Test Match

Watch video highlights of Day 3 – First Test match India vs Australia 2008-09 Border Gavasakar Trophy. Match will be played on 9-13 October at Bangalore.

Video Highlights 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus @ Bangalore

Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5

Video Highlights – Day 3 – Bangalore Test Match – 2008

1. Harbhajan Singh’s Fifty

2. Wicket of Harbhajan Singh

Watch video highlights of Day 2 – 1st Test match India vs Australia 2008-09 Border Gavasakar Trophy. Match will be played on 9-13 October at Bangalore.

Video Highlights 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus @ Bangalore

Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5

Video Highlights – Bangalore Test – Day 2

1. 1st Test Match – Day 2 – Pitch Report

2. 1st Test Match – Day 2 – Session 1 Highlight

3. Shane Watson Wicket – 1st Test – Australia 1st Innings

4. Hadding Wicket – 1st Test – Australia 1st Innings

5. All Australian Wickets 1st Test- 1st Innings

6. Highlights of Sehwag’s Inning – India 1st Inning

Watch video highlights of Day 1 of 1st Test match of Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India & Australia at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore.

Video Highlights 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus @ Bangalore

Day 1 || Day 2 || Day 3 || Day 4 || Day 5

Day 1 – 1st Test Match – India vs Australia @ Bangalore

1. Toss

2. Day 1 – 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus – Highlights Part 1

3. Day 1 – 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus – Highlights Part 2

4. Complete Video Highlights – Day 1 – 1st Test Match – Ind vs Aus

5. Interview – Day 1