Australia Vs India First Test Match 2008 starts today

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.