Laxman, Bollinger Out As Australia Elect to Bat

Bangalore: Australian captain Ricky Ponting won the toss and chose to bat against India in the second and final Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Saturday.

India have been forced to make as many as three changes due to injuries. Murali Vijay replaces Gautam Gambhir, Cheteshwar Pujara is in for VVS Laxman and S Sreesanth replaces Ishant Sharma. Australia have brought in Peter George for the injured Doug Bollinger.

The Indians would be seeking to wrap up the Test series and prevent the mighty Australians from clinching a Test win on Indian soil in six years but being a depleted side could turn the tide against them.

The Indians would be without key stars such as opener Gautam Gambhir and pacer Ishant Sharma, who had just about rediscovered some lost form when he was laid low by a knee injury in the opening Test.

With the track once again seeming to be on the slower side, stroke-making would be difficult as the match progresses.

Their pride hurt, the Australians would pull out all stops to turn the tables on the Indians after letting slip a game which was well within their grasp on at least the first four days.

Ponting would be looking up to his batsmen to rise to the occasion for the tourists to square the two-match series.

However, Indian batting looks to be more solid with technically sound, Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and VVS Laxman having been among runs and they would be followed by the stylish and in-form Suresh Raina.

With Ghambir sidelined due to injury, Tamil Nadu opener Murali Vijay is all set to open with Virender Sehwag.

As for the Aussie bowling, the pace trio of Doug Bollinger, who is said to have recovered fully from a back strain, Mitchell Johnson and Ben Hilfenhaus would look to continue the good work they did in the Mohali Test.

They would once again look to exploit, Indian batsmen's relative discomfort against genuine pace.

Team

India: MS Dhoni (capt & wk), Virender Sehwag, Murali Vijay, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Cheteshwar Pujara, Suresh Raina, Zaheer Khan, Harbhajan Singh, S Sreesanth, Pragyan Ojha.

Australia: Ricky Ponting (capt), Shane Watson, Simon Katich, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey, Marcus North, Ben Hilfenhaus, Mitchell Johnson, Tim Paine (wk), Peter George, Nathan Hauritz.