The Aussies on the backfoot in tri series

Suddenly, at the half way stage, the Commonwealth Bank Series has turned into a real pot boiler. With Sri Lanka winning over Australi, with a bonus point at that, the series has been thrown wide open. The three teams are separated by just three points.

With one win Australia can be at the top again but if they loose the match against India, the hosts will face the danger of being ousted out of the tri-series. Without regular captain Michael Clarke, the hosts are under tremendous pressure. Ricky Ponting looks jaded and out of touch. After playing four tests and all the matches of the tri series he needs an immediate break.

On the other hand, after the shaky start Indians are now looking in good touch. Captain cool Mahendra Singh Dhoni is leading from the front and is continuously playing crucial knocks in the lower middle order.

Considering the present position of all the teams India has the upper hand and they will be the favourite in Sunday's match. The stats favour the tourists. They have beaten Aussies twice in their last encounter at Gabba. But since then, the hosts haven't lost a match at this venue. To top that, the men in blue have tied their last encounter. But that came on the back of two wins in the tri-series.

Ricky Ponting has four single digit scores in the last four encounters and it is the third in his career that he has got four single digit figure in successive ODIs. After an excellent test series Ponting's slump in form must be baffling Australians. The explosive opener David Warner hasn't fired yet in the series. Ricky Ponting is still waiting to cross the double digit mark. David Hussey in the lower middle order is trying his best but with pathetic start nothing can be done to lift the team. The sloppy fielding has worsened the situation and if Aussies don't lift themselves in the second half of the series, they will be out before the final league match is played.

From India, Gautam Gambhir is firing at the top. In the last two matches he had scored 92 and 91 and another score in near-centuries wont hurt him as long as he is contributing in India's win. Virendra Sehwag has back spasms and he will miss tomorrows encounter. Zaheer Khan after recovering from calf problem could join the playing eleven. Praveen Kumar might play and Irfan Pathan could be left out of the final eleven.

The pitch promises to be a batsman's paradise and the toss will be crucial. The first team batting will be trying to put up as much as possible on the board to put the opponents under pressure.