IND Vs AUS 4th Test: Australia's Test tour of India will be coming to a close as the 4th Test match starts Thursday, March 9. Though the visitors are down 2-1 in the four-Test match series, all the pressure is on the hosts. Ahead of the game, ICC's World Test Championship (WTC) final berth is on the line, pitches in India are in question, underperforming batsmen at home are under scrutiny and on top of it the premiers of India and Australia will be in attendance.
India's top batsmen will be hoping to clear their heads and secure a second successive WTC final berth as they face Australia in the deciding fourth Test starting on Thursday. A series win of 3-1 would guarantee India's place in the summit WTC clash in June, without depending on the outcome of Sri Lanka's away series in New Zealand.
The Motera pitch promises welcome respite for the batters with its firm and even bounce after under-prepared tracks in previous matches resulted in short games.
The imposing Narendra Modi Stadium will create the right atmosphere for the high-stakes Test match, with 100,000 people expected to attend on the opening day, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
To maintain interest, India's top players, including Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Cheteshwar Pujara, will need to take responsibility for winning the mind game and battle of the pitch. The walk from the centre of the track to the dressing room is around 100 metres and involves 70 plus staircases, making it a lonely walk back for batsmen who do not perform well.
India's second-highest scorer in the series, Axar Patel, with 185 runs, highlights the difficulty batters have faced so far, and head coach Rahul Dravid's assessment supports this.
Kohli and Pujara are aware that big knocks against quality opposition have eluded them for too long.
India will likely make one change, with Mohammed Shami coming in, accompanied by the seasoned Umesh Yadav, while Mohammed Siraj is rested, and expected to play a crucial role in India's ODI campaign starting on March 17 in Mumbai.
Whether an extra batter will serve as a cushion for India's top order is a question raised after their shoddy batting display, but if the pitch is better for the willow-wielders, five bowlers will be needed to take 20 wickets.
As for Australia, the key question is whether they will dump one off-spinner in Todd Murphy and pick up an extra pacer, such as Scott Boland or Lance Morris. Having already clinched the WTC final berth, Steve Smith, in his stopgap role, would certainly hope to spoil India's unbeaten home record, which had not happened since England in 2012.