India has fallen again to the Australian bluff of psychological ploys and mind games. The media, former players, captain and current squad are all in on the 'scam' and any team not savvy to these methods falls into the trap.

India's tour to Australia will have to rely on miracles because the squad have already succumbed to the mind games. Ian Chappell said that India had made a big mistake by dropping Verinder Sehwag, who he regarded as  the most feared player when the team last toured.

And at the end of the Bangalore Test, guess what? Sehwag is included in the tour! I won't be surprised if the Aussies now start praising Sri Sreesanth for his aggression. Players like Brett Lee will say that India's new-found aggression is a 'welcome sign'. There will be players who will fall into this trap and will over-react on the field.

'There will be a lot of talk about the ''Sehwag factor''. And he will be included, giving the Australians one less wicket to worry about'


On current form Sehwag is a dead weight with his feet as solid as concrete. He is not the man he was four years ago, he is not even scoring runs at Ranji Trophy level. If India wanted to check if he had regained any of his old form, they should have tried him on the flat beds of Kolkatta and Bangalore.

Instead, they ignored him completely and at the last minute he is picked ahead of Gautam Gambhir. Guys like Yuvraj Singh are fighting to find a place in the Test team. I saw a plan for sending Rahul Dravid to open and inserting Yuvraj in the middle. So why is there a place for the out-of-form Sehwag? Australia is not the place for someone to get back into form. The Australian touring experience is actually the place to end careers.

The Australian propaganda machine will run a campaign of admiration of Sehwag. There will be a lot of talk about 'the Sehwag factor'. And the team management will make the mistake of including him in the team. That will give the Australians one less wicket to worry about as they prepare to unleash a four-pronged pace attack.
The Aussies are already spinning the web about a slow track in Melbourne and Adelaide that will suit the Indians. The Indian team management is going to fall for this, too, and include two spinners. The wicket will look as deceptive as the Brisbane wicket that the Sri Lankans misjudged.

Then comes the surprise element. The wicket will not play to the script and the Indian bowling will suffer as the Australian team unleashes its batting might. Even the Kolkatta and Bangalore wickets ended up deceptively flat enough for the mediocre Pakistani batsmen to salvage the matches.

But when the Indians bat, the Aussie bowlers will manage to find some life. There will be a lot of talk about not having a quality spinner for the Melbourne Test, and of course this will induce the selectors to include two. Then the Aussies will say that they have decided to rely on pace bowling, knowing how good Indians are against spin.

During the last tour, the Australians underestimated the Indians. This time, the series has already begun for the hosts. I hope that the Indian cricket management realises what it is being led into.