India's victory at Perth was like a breath of fresh air. It was great to see the young Indian bowlers taking advantage of the conditions better than the Australians on their home turf.

Watching this series, I understand how the Australians go about their business – one session at a time. It does not matter what the opposition side does. Every session is dealt with with the utmost intensity. The pressure is never taken off, especially when the opponents are batting. To beat the Aussies, you need a good first-innings advantage or else they will come back in the second innings and offset all earlier advantages. It is important to keep the Australians under pressure at all times.

During the series, it has been the Indian bowling that has worried the Aussies. Sri Lanka, despite having a better pace attack on paper, could not go beyond four Australian batsmen. The Indians have repeatedly got down to the tail enders and if Zaheer Khan was there, the bowling would have been even more lethal.
Our bowling is sharp and will be strengthened by Harbhajan Singh's inclusion. I'd also keep Irfan Pathan.

'India should ignore the psychological stuff and play their natural game'


Batting was a struggle in Perth for India. If Rahul Dravid had been caught out at 12 by Michael Clarke, this match would have turned out very differently. I am glad Dravid got the break he needed and went on to regain some of his confidence.

The batting, surprisingly, has not been as good as the bowling. Wasim Jaffer was a huge disappointment,  VVS Laxman should go in at number three and Sachin Tendulkar should open the innings. He and Verinder Sehwag can put pressure on the Australian bowlers early on.

In Adelaide, the Indian batsmen have to look at themselves and see how they can repeat the Sydney first innings performance. For this to succeed, I would not rely on Dravid opening the innings. At least if Sehwag scores, someone like Sourav Ganguly or Sachin can rotate the strike and put pressure on the Aussie attack.

Australia are trying to play mental games by hyping up Mathew Hayden's inclusion. But India should ignore the psychological stuff and play their natural game. If the Aussie bowlers can gain an advantage from the conditions, so can the Indian bowlers.

India should not be so much bothered about Ganguly's exclusion from the one-day squad. They should copy Australia's approach – go session by session and put pressure on the hosts.

I want India to win so that there is more of a level playing field in Test cricket. We need checks and balances so that there is more competition and not just one team winning everything.