Aussies hope for good Board game

The visitors want a win under their belt before the Test series, but President’s XI will be no pushovers, reports Anand Vasu.

As a contest the Australians' tour opener means little. While the visitors will naturally want a win under their belts, the primary aim will be to get in the kind of practice that will hold them in good stead when the Test series begins, in Bangalore on October 9.

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For the home team, the Board President's XI, the match is a chance for some of the players, led aptly by Yuvraj Singh, to put in performances that ensure that they are high up in the pecking order should a need arise for the selectors to look for a replacement for someone in the Indian squad.

The BP XI players went through practice on Wednesday afternoon, but you could not blame them if their minds strayed to Mumbai, where the newly formed selection committee was deliberating at the same time.

Even as the players were in the nets they checked with reporters more than once, to see if the team had been announced.

When it was, there was disappointment for Pragyan Ojha and Rohit Sharma, both of whom were in the squad for the three Sri Lanka Tests, but never played, and have since been dropped.

There was relief for S Badrinath, who finally got the call he has been waiting for all these years.

The Australians, who finished their work out in the morning, claimed they had little interest in whom the Indian selectors picked, only looking to see how many left-handed batsmen there were in the team to decide on the bowling combination. They were, instead, more interested in getting their own act together.

"The reason we came to Jaipur a little early was we were coming out of the Australian winter, it's cold we don't have turf wickets of the same quality and style in Australia as we do here. And it gives us more of a chance to play against Indians," said Tim Neilsen, Australia's coach.

"I'm very comfortable where we are at the moment. We've got another four days of preparation in the game format here and hopefully another couple of days of training before the first Test. We'll be ready as can be for the Indian spinners. There is no better place to learn playing cricket in India than do it in India."

Yuvraj, for his part, aimed to regain his best touch and get back in the Test frame of things. "I am keen on proving a point to myself rather than to other people. Everytime you go out there, you want to prove a point to yourself that you belong here. I am just going to try and do that," he said.

A point to prove for BP XI, a chance to fine tune for the Australians, and the stage is well set as the build-up to the Test series heats up in right earnest.