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Sydney: Sachin Tendulkar hopes that there's safety, or at least comfort, in numbers at the Sydney Cricket Ground as India attempt to level the four-Test series with Australia.
Tendulkar, still in search of his 100th international century, has 664 runs at an average of 221.33 in four Tests at the SCG. In 2004 he shared a record SCG fourth-wicket partnership with VVS Laxman - they added 353 with Tendulkar scoring an unbeaten 241 - as India declared its first-innings at 705-7 in the drawn fourth Test. Both Tendulkar and Laxman also scored centuries in the first innings of the acrimonious 2008 Test at the SCG.
India, which lost the series-opening Test in Melbourne last week by 122 runs, have never won a Test series in Australia. But it has been involved in some epic matches at the ground and will be more confident than usual with a Tendulkar milestone on the line.
Rohit Sharma, who could make his Test debut at the expense of middle-order batsman Virat Kohli, said the SCG was a venue most of his teammates enjoyed.
Despite all the hype of Tendulkar's quest for 100 hundreds, and an SCG crowd that would probably love to see it happen, Michael Clarke's Australian lineup would just as soon see the drought continue.
The last time Australia hosted India at the SCG was in 2008, when relations between the teams reached an all-time low. Clarke's three wickets in the final overs of the fifth day of that match delivered the Australians a world record-equaling 16th consecutive Test win, but allegations Andrew Symonds had been racially abused by Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh overshadowed the outcome. There was speculation that India proposed boycotting the remainder of the tour.
Hussey believes this year's SCG Test pitch could see a return to the drier, more spin-friendly wickets of the past.
To watch Sachin Tendulkar upper-cut Peter Siddle over the head of the slips for six off the first ball after tea on the second day at the MCG was a sight to behold. Tendulkar played brilliantly in that innings and it was impossible not to anticipate his hundredth international hundred. Siddle ended that dream in the last over of the day by bowling Tendulkar for 73.
India's batting was a problem in Melbourne, so they might consider including Rohit Sharma at the expense of Virat Kohli. Should Rohit play it will be his Test debut but he will bring plenty of international experience - he has played 72 ODIs and 22 Twenty20s for India. India will not name its team until just before the toss Tuesday.
Australia captain Michael Clarke is looking for more of the same from his team after naming an unchanged line-up to that which beat India by 122 runs in Melbourne last week for the second Test.
After a season which has featured some peaks and a few deep troughs for Australia, Clarke sees the second of the four tests, which starts at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Tuesday, as an important measure of the team's battle to improve its consistency.
One of the highlights of the Melbourne Test was the way the bowling attack of Peter Siddle, James Pattinson and Ben Hilfenhaus unsettled the much-vaunted Indian batsmen, bowling them out cheaply on the fourth day to secure victory.
Pattinson, 21, has been the subject of much attention after claiming five-wicket hauls in his first two Tests against New Zealand and clinching the Man of the Match award in his third against India last week.
Nathan Lyon had not played for his state in any format. Now he is a veteran of eight Tests. In a year full of impressive debuts by Australian cricketers, his is the most remarkable story. The Adelaide Oval groundsman who was asked by the state coach to bowl in the nets, Lyon has shown every club cricketer that there is hope. All you need is an opportunity. He wasn't a key part of the attack in Melbourne, where the fast men dominated, but at the SCG, particularly later in the Test, he could be asked to bowl a lot of overs of offspin.
Team
Australia David Warner, Ed Cowan, Shaun Marsh, Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke (capt), Michael Hussey, Brad Haddin (wk), Peter Siddle, James Pattinson, Nathan Lyon, Ben Hilfenhaus.
India (from): MS Dhoni (captain & wk), Virendra Sehwag, R Ashwin, Rahul Dravid, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, VVS Laxman, Abhimanyu Mithun, Pragayan Ojha, Ajiyanka Rahane, WP Saha (wk), Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Sachin Tendulkar, Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav
Pitch and conditions
The SCG pitch has traditionally not bounced as much as other Australian surfaces, perhaps one of the reasons it has been appreciated by India's batsmen. But that character has changed, and the curator Tom Parker expects a similar pitch to that on which England's swing and seam bowlers set up an innings victory last summer. It is worth noting, though, that in that Test England's batsmen scored 644. The forecast for the first day is sunny and 28C, while there could be the chance of storms and showers over the next three days of the Test.
Stats and trivia
Match facts
January 3-7, 2012
Start time 1030 local (2330 GMT pre day, 05:00 IST)
