Both teams face higher expectations in Bengaluru

March 4-8, 2017
Start time 0930 local (0400 GMT)

It was no surprise that a spinner took 12 wickets and was Man of the Match in the first Test in Pune. Nor was it a surprise that the winning captain scored the only hundred of the match. It was not even particularly surprising that the Test was over in two and a half days. What was surprising - flabbergasting, even - was that the spinner was not R Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja but Steve O'Keefe, the captain was not Virat Kohli but Steven Smith, and the team with a 1-0 lead after less than three days of play in this series was not India but Australia.

"The pressure was off us, wasn't it? Everyone wrote us off and expected India to win 4-0. That can't happen anymore." Never a truer word was spoken than those from Smith after the Pune Test. But if it was true that the pressure was off Australia in that match, it is no longer the case in Bengaluru, where the expectations on Australia will be high. Not only did they beat India in Pune, they dominated in all aspects of the game. They more than doubled India's total in each innings, the spinners were more effective, their catching was sharper, even their use of the DRS was more assured.

Pressure was on Kohli's mind after the match, too. "How badly we batted in the first innings is the main reason why we couldn't get back into the game," he said. "We put ourselves under a lot of pressure." The intensity will only increase in Bengaluru, where Australia are in the unexpected position of being able to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by the halfway point of the series. Kohli's men must find a way to turn around their fortunes quickly, or else an ignominious fate awaits them.

So, was Pune an aberration? What surprises will Bengaluru have in store? It is the only venue in this series that has hosted Test cricket before, and it is a ground at which past Australia teams have enjoyed success. Much speculation has surrounded the nature of the pitch at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in the lead-up to the match, especially given Australia's triumph on the dry, spinning surface in the first Test. What will be in it? Sharp spin? Reverse swing? Piles of runs? It should be fun finding out.

India: LWWWW (last five completed matches, most recent first)
Australia: WWWWW

Last time India hosted Australia in a Bengaluru Test, back in 2010, Cheteshwar Pujara made his debut. On Australia's next Test tour of India, Pujara destroyed the visitors in Hyderabad with 204 and a monstrous triple-century partnership with M Vijay. And he began this home season well, with three straight half-centuries against New Zealand and then hundreds in the next three Tests against New Zealand and England. But since then, Pujara's season has quietened down a little, and India would desperately love for their No. 3 to return to his best in this match, at the venue where his Test career began against this same opposition.

Steve O'Keefe was Man of the Match in Pune for his twin 6 for 35s, but on a very difficult batting pitch Steven Smith stood head and shoulders above any other batsman with his 109. Only two Australians had previously made second-innings hundreds in Tests in India: Mark Taylor and Damien Martyn. Not only that but Smith's effort lifted him into truly elite company on the ICC's all-time batting rankings; only five batsmen have ever achieved ratings points higher than Smith's current level: Don Bradman, Len Hutton, Jack Hobbs, Ricky Ponting and Peter May. He will enter the Bengaluru Test with a batting average of 60.34 - not bad for a bloke who started as a legspinner batting at No.8.

Hardik Pandya has a shoulder niggle and is not in contention, but the remainder of India's squad is available for this Test. It remains to be seen whether the selectors give the same XI another chance after their disappointing performance in Pune.

India (possible) 1 KL Rahul, 2 M Vijay, 3 Cheteshwar Pujara, 4 Virat Kohli (capt), 5 Ajinkya Rahane, 6 Wriddiman Saha (wk), 7 R Ashwin, 8 Ravindra Jadeja, 9 Jayant Yadav, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Umesh Yadav.

Australia announced an unchanged XI on the eve of the second Test, retaining Mitchell Marsh, whose bowling services were not exploited in Pune.

Australia 1 David Warner, 2 Matt Renshaw, 3 Steven Smith (capt), 4 Shaun Marsh, 5 Peter Handscomb, 6 Mitchell Marsh, 7 Matthew Wade (wk), 8 Mitchell Starc, 9 Steve O'Keefe, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Josh Hazlewood.

There has been so much discussion and speculation about the pitch that India's coach, Anil Kumble, got fed up during his press conference in the lead-up to the Test. "Can we move on? It's only 22 yards, it won't be different here," he said. Both teams expect a better batting surface than in Pune, but it will still be dry and should take plenty of turn.

"The way we played last week was such a positive sign. It was a difficult wicket and we showed them we can compete in those conditions. And more importantly, we probably showed ourselves as well."
Steven Smith's Australia are full of self-belief after Pune