Amidst all the speculations that the series between India and Australia will be cancelled or postponed owing to the terror blasts, the Aussies arrived on Monday with full confidence. There was no fear of any kind in either team: in the game or in the lives. This confidence shows that we all will be enjoying the main matches to the maximum. Of course there will be extra security checks at each stadium, but the games will be worth more that small trouble.

The series began with much excitement. Even before the main series, the Australian team greeted the Rajasthan team aggressively on the Jaipur pitch on the two day practice match. The game started on Saturday with the visitors packing up at 218. In return, the Rajasthan team scored only 122 owing to the bowlers of the visiting team.

In the first day itself, the Australian team was sent packing at the score of 218 whereafter the Rajasthan team took over the batting. But it could not face the Australian bowlers who wrapped the innings in only 52.3 overs. Captain Venugopal could face only 63 balls in which, he crossed only 3 boundaries. By the time he returned to pavilion, the team score was 57 for four, while his individual score was 20.

By the lunch time on Sunday, the total score of Rajasthan was 97 for seven. Hardly within one more hour of match after the lunch break, the entire RCA team got out for 122. Instead of continuing with the match, the captain of the visitors’ team decided to end the game in a draw. They then continued with the 15 member team practice among themselves. The aim of ending the game before time was to improve the batting performance of the Australians.

The very first practice match showed the skills of the Aussie bowlers. With the kind of bowling performance shown by the visitors, it would be better for India to prepare for a better defense and include good batsmen in line. Hopefully Sachin will be in for the match if we are to believe the BCCI. Sourav may also be required in the batting line. But the BCCI seems to have lost interest in him. Anyways, the most important factor is to keep the team spirit of India at its optimum level so that they can play with more concentration unlike the previous match on the Australian grounds where they showed lack of sportsmanship, focusing only on individual performances.