Gilchrist warns of Dravid and Laxman

Adam Gilchrist expects the underperforming Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman "to fire a shot at some stage" as Australia attempt to end their 35-year Indian drought in the third Test at Nagpur.

Australia, chasing their first series win in India since 1969, lead the four-match contest 1-0, but Sachin Tendulkar is back for India, and they know Dravid and Laxman are due for runs. Dravid and Laxman hounded Australia in 2001, making a combined 841 runs in three Tests, and they did it again last summer, racking up 1413 runs from four Tests. Their contribution in the first two matches has been 124 runs.

Gilchrist said it was probably inevitable they would make make their presence felt soon. "We'll expect them to fire a shot at some stage, without doubt," Gilchrist said. "They're very, very dangerous players."

India are eagerly awaiting Tendulkar's return from a tennis-elbow injury tomorrow but Gilchrist said Dravid, Laxman and Virender Sehwag were just as capable of taking the game from Australia. "There's no priority on wickets," he said. "Tendulkar is not the only one that builds momentum. There's no doubt that there's something unique about Sachin and his place in cricket, in India in particular. But I don't feel like that's been overpowering to us and hopefully we can control that emotion when he does bat."

Gilchrist said Darren Lehmann, 34, was just as "due" for a big score as Dravid and Laxman, but denied he was facing the axe if he failed at Nagpur. Lehmann and Michael Clarke are vying to stay in the middle order when injured captain Ricky Ponting comes back from his broken thumb.

"I certainly don't know what the selectors are thinking, but my gut feeling is 'Boof' [Lehmann] is not under any more pressure than anyone at the minute," he said. "I know statistically you can make that judgement ... but if teams picked themselves on stats we wouldn't have selectors. You'd have a computer print out and you'd go and play. There's a lot more to it than statistics."

Australia's chances of securing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy appeared to go through the roof when a moist pitch was unveiled at the VCA Ground. "It looks refreshing to our eyes ... but we're not jumping around and yahoo-ing about the green tinge to it," he said. "We'll wait and see what's there on game day."

Gilchrist brushed aside concerns about Australia's catching after seven chances were spilled in Chennai. "We've looked at that - it's not panic stations," he said. "We've dropped lots of catches before and we've taken a lot of catches before, too. We believe that we will sharpen up. It's not a skill thing, it's a mental thing, not being switched on."