If Dhoni and his team can pull off a series win in Australia, they will etch their names in gold in Indian cricket history, and will forever be remembered like Ajit Wadekar and his men are still recalled for their golden summer of 1971 when India beat England in a Test series in England for the first time.

India have probably never had a better chance to do this at least for the past 25 years.  Australia lost a Test match to an inexperienced New Zealand team at home, just a couple of weeks ago, something they had not done since the heyday of Sir Richard Hadlee.  Additionally, Australia is a team in transition, with a bunch of new and inexperienced players and also currently rank below India in the ICC Test rankings

They are led by a newish Captain, who has not quite had the success that his immediate predecessor, and current senior pro in the side, had.  And they have had many injuries to their bowlers, so that their current attack is quite green.  The batting is also unsettled with the first choice opening pair missing due to injuries, and prone to collapses, like their 47 all out in South Africa showed.

That said India too, are not the side they were just a few years ago.  They have lost the services of two grizzled veterans, who knew what it was to compete in Australia, Anil Kumble and Sourav Ganguly.  They also have a very green bowling attack, with just the veteran left arm fast bowler, Zaheer Khan and his lanky bowling partner Ishant Sharma with much over 50 Test wickets.  And to make matters worse, both are susceptible to breaking down under the strain of bowling on large, hard, and unforgiving grounds.  The Indian selectors have compounded the problems by leaving out one of the heroes of India's stunning win at Perth last time, man of the match, Irfan Pathan from the squad.   This is especially hard to fathom, given Pathan's excellent form, his abilitiy with the bat, and his over all utility in the field.  An injury or breakdown of either of the two, or god forbid, both main pacers, will see India with a pace attack so inexperienced in Australian conditions that they may decide to play both spinners regardless the nature of the pitch.

The Indian batting line up meanwhile though incredible on paper, is getting long in the tooth.  And Australia is not a good place to be even a fraction off your top game.  This writer, envisions a very testing time for the Indian batting line up, especially if the openers Sehwag and Gambhir, do not fire immediately, and provide the foundation for the rest of the batsmen to build on.  The bench strength also doesn't look the strongest, though one is heartened by the showing of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in the warm-up games.  Ajinkya Rahane who is slated to fill the role of back up opener, however has not looked the part so far.  Here again the Indian selectors made matters worse by not picking the experienced Parthiv Patel, who while providing back-up to Dhoni behind the stumps, would have been another option as a potential opener in case Rahane was not up to the job.

Dhoni has rightly been hailed as a great captain for leading his team to the No. 1 ranking in Test matches, but the 4-0 drubbing he received in England has posed serious questions about his ability to inspire, when the going is the toughest in hostile conditions overseas.  This is the acid test of his leadership, especially as his own batting often suffers in such overseas conditions as well.  If he returns with a series win, he will have earned his title as the Greatest Indian Test captain of all time, if he surrenders the Border-Gavaskar trophy, then serious questions about that will be asked.

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