It is not surprising to see Australia feeling the heat, the likes of Shane Warne felt the same, and if I am right Shane Warne does still considers the Indian tour as the most challenging he ever faced, where he had to face a battery of onslaught from the Indian batsmen particularly SR Tendulkar, Sachin quite remarkably worked out a comfortable stance against the genious of Warne and there was no respite for Warne throughout the Tour, if I am right was the Tour of 2001 at which India eventually won the series. Though much Credit goes to VVS Laxman for his immortal 281, after India followed on to Win the Test at Kolkata's Eden Gardens, where also, Bhajji took six wickets in the Australian Second Innings. The final Test saw some fireworks from Sachin's blade and India won a Tour against a dominant Australian side in a long time. During my small research I found Anil Kumble the present Indian Skipper who the media is out asking for his retirement day, took some 13 wickets in an inconsequential drawn Test match in 2004 at Chennai. In the first Innings he has figures of 7/48 under 18 overs thus putting Australia under pressure in the first innings as it managed only a 235. And in the second innings he fights with a big heart to see India win with figures of 6/133 in 43 overs. It is no wonder the Australian Captain would not like to see Kumble under the Aussies throat, particularly in this series, because experienced Kumble is more of a threat against the inexperience of this Australian side.

Australia might find some respite due to Harbhajan's injury, it will be interesting to see how Amit Mishra combines with Anil Kumble to bowl in tandem. First day at the Kotla Test 2008 belonged to India backing on a splendid hundred from Gambhir. Australia will have to make a last ditch effort on the second day morning to restrict India around 400, though the chances are very remote for that as India looks very comfortable to score around 600. Kotla is a traditional hunting ground for Anil Kumble, how the punter plays the hunter is the battle on cards.

The Mohali Test is heading for a decisive result and the only side that looks to win this Test is India, Australian team was completely outplayed in the first innings where Indian batsmen completely dominated the scene. Contributions came from almost all the batsman who spent considerable time at the wicket including the opening batsmen. The batting for the hosts has come alive and now India has the lead of 300 runs with out losing a wicket and still two more days are left in this Test, that puts the Australian team under considerable pressure as the wicket will start to turn more and more.

The nature of the pitch is very slow as indicated by Dhoni when he opted to bat after winning the Toss. It will be very tough for the Australian batsman to bat on this weary pitch from now on. Australia lost its way in this Test after being bowled out for 268 in the first innings, Amit Mishra took a 5/71 in his debut Test and that really upset the Australian batting card.

In the second innings the opener's further capitalized on the important first innings lead and put the team into strong position by adding another 100 runs to the first innings lead. Dhoni might be looking for a total of around 400 plus runs lead to defend in the second innings, he will definitely like to tighten up things around in the second innings, I personally feel India will declare around Tea if it gets to the Total in mind. That should give Indian bowlers some good overs left in the day to try and have a go at the Australian top order.

With spinners completely dominating the first innings, I think they will again in the second innings. Lastly but not the least, Sachin Tendulkar by surpassing the highest number of runs in Test Cricket in the World has once again brought the Title to India which was once held by Sunil Gavaskar only to be broken by Allan Border. Many congrats to the little master, who has really made the Indian Cricket look good in all times for almost two decades.

The match ended in a draw after some interesting Cricket, as I have mentioned earlier a lot depended on the Toss and the wicket was not conducive for pacing the innings against the odds and it did not turn much, as a result both the teams heavily banked on the pace bowlers, who took most of the wickets in this Test. With this Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble would have played their last Test at the Chinnaswamy stadium at Bangalore, Kumble particularly was injured and that showed up on his lacklustre performance, he was more of a captain anchoring the team and successfully led the team to a honourable draw.

Had India won the toss, I would say match would have been more interesting to watch, still I would not have given an outright victory to the Indian team though the match would have been very close.

The remaining pitches will turn more than this pitch and the series has definitely come alive, with teams having a look at their performance and now the battle should really kick on from here.

Ricky Ponting gave India a modest total on the final day to achieve but a 5th day pitch was never going to be easy to bat on, with cracks opening up, Indian batsman particularly Sachin and Laxman had a good time in the middle kept the Australian bowlers thinking all day.

This Indian middle order will surely be missed in the days to come when they will no longer be on the scene, and that change in the team is taking shape with Ganguly taking the call first. Truly a champion cricketer, Ganguly upped the pace of Indian Cricket, the team rised to become a dominant force in International Cricket went from strength to strength.

As Aussie skipper said in his post match conference there was still room to improve showed his worry that this Australian team lacks in talent as well as experience. Though it was a very good performance by the Australians who were lucky to start the series on a positive note having drawn the Test. This should give the Aussies immense satisfaction to take from this match, though they would have been more happier had they won this match, but Test Cricket is a hard nut to crack where you just can't do without a full blooded performance.

Lastly but not the least Indian bowlers, shall we say all rounders here ? Man of the Match Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh played a crucial role in India drawing the Test match, other wise the match would have been very very close.

For Australia Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey proved to be the main stays, though Michael Clarke and Mathew Hayden are equally capable of big match innings.

The teams would be now gearing up for the next match. Mohali is a fast paced pitch and it should support spin on the final days of the Test, both the teams equally balanced, another battle for supremacy will be on display.

Australia ends day one of the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Chinnaswamy stadium in Bangalore in a strong position. Ricky Ponting scored his first Test Century on the Indian soil leading the way in the Australian batting scorecard. Australia ended the day with 254/4 with Michael Clarke bowled out in the last over of the day's play by Zaheer Khan caught in front of the wicket.

In the morning Australia won the Toss and elected to bat first on a good batting wicket and Mathew Hayden was out third ball of the innings edging out to Zaheer Khan. Ricky Ponting and Simon Katich build on the innings from there on for a 166 run partnership for the second wicket, with Katich scoring a good fifty before getting out.

Day two again will be easier to bat on, with Mike Hussey well set on 46 and White, Watson and Haddin still to bat, there is lot of work cut out for the Indian bowlers. The track is very good indeed for batting and it will start turning when the cracks open up as the wicket gets weary. I personally feel the wicket looks too good to be a turner as we might expect so as to produce a result, in all probability if the Indian first innings matches the Australian total in the first innings then we might be heading for a draw.

Had India won the toss it would have put Australia bat last in the Test and would have been interesting to see Australia bat against the turners, that's what the Indian think tank might have wished for. It would still not have made much difference considering the nature of the pitch which has very less to offer for the bowlers and the Australia having a good eye in the Indian conditions would have been equally capable to play out the Indian spin.

Day two of the first Test should see Australia consolidate on the overnight score, Indian bowlers if had their way and run into the Australian tail-enders quickly then match would come alive, let's hope for a good competitive Cricket on day 2 at Chinnaswamy stadium, Bangalore.

The toss will be the key, team winning the toss will like to bat first, make a good total and put the pressure on the side batting second, the track at the Chinnaswamy stadium Bangalore, offers good allround play and if there is any moisture in the morning as the winter is set to start in India, the Australian bowlers might have a distinct advantage, if they manage to remove the top order in the first session. Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir will open the innings for India. Sides are very well balanced, with Australia lacking some experience in the spin department. India most probably would like to play three pacers and two spinners. With Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma will be the likely combination with Ganguly and Sehwag making up for the fifth bowler.

Australia would definitely like to make it harder for India to score runs and Ricky Ponting has already made a specific statement on this and Australian team will like to put pressure on the aging Indian side, with almost all the big names are well past there prime. But that would have a little effect if the Indian juggernaut starts to Roll. Indian batsmen play lot with wrists and the field placements should not be of a big concern. But India's fielding should be strong to contain the Australia's batting line up should Aussies win the Toss and elect to bat first.

There has been lot of speculation in the media about the seniors retirement, the hype is mostly due to the fact that there are players like Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh and Mohammed Kaif waiting in the wings. That puts more pressure on the selection matters but on a given day India cannot overlook to play to its strengths.

Australia will look to play Craig White ahead of Krejza more because of the former's experience in the Indian conditions and had a good stint with the Australia A team recently concluded tournament.

The Test series will be remembered as the last one for Ganguly, and also its the 100th Test for VVS Laxman the truly remarkable achievement. Also the crowd would like to see Sachin go past the Lara's phenomenal record broken by an equally phenomenal batsmen.

The teams for the first test

India

Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, VVS Laxman, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (wk), Anil Kumble (capt), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma.

Matthew Hayden,Simon Katich,Ricky Ponting (capt),Michael Clarke,Michael Hussey, Shane Watson,Brad Haddin (wk),Cameron White,Brett Lee,Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark.

First test Match of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2008 in India is scheduled to start at the Bangalore's chinnaswamy stadium just a little while from now at 09:30 IST Indian time or 04:00 GMT and in Australia it will be around 2:30 Adelaide time.