[Swooperman]

Hard to call for me this. If anybodys going to stand up to the Aussies its the Indian batting, most of them have been there before & done it & those that havent like Jaffer have had good years.
I havent looked into it enough yet really but theres a lot to look into tbh as the Aussies dont half use some oxygen before tests.....the likes of Warne & McGrath appear to have gone from world class bowlers to wanting to be quoted on everything. Stinks of missing the limelight & self-importance to me but fair play, you've got to have been as good as they were to thinnk they can get away with it.
Regarding the series I think you have to fancy Australia but I'm not confident enough to back them at those prices. I fancy India to strongly compete in certainly 2 tests, though whether that means winning them is another matter & certainly winning more than 1 seems stretching it to me.

Both sides perceived weak points are their bowling, & although I got slagged for it before I still strongly think Sri Lanka missed out on doing everybody a favour by not batting @ Brisbane & putting an inexperienced attack under pressure. Lee & co may well have have passed the test with flying colours but surely it was the only way forward. Fact is though that theyve now got the confidence of that series under their belts.

Indias batting will score big runs at some point in this series though & it'll be interesting if its when batting first up as to how Australia react. Of the Indian big 5, only Ganguly averages under 54 on Aussie soil.
The point about coming from slow & low pitches is a good one but this India batting line up has seen it all before & that should be less of a factor for me, though granted it still is a factor.

A couple of days ago I was looking at more research & then a back of Australia @ around 1.6 looking to trade as we go, but now I'm unsure.
From what I gather the weather match-wise looks ok, but theyve had a lot of rain in recent days & theyve been talking about needing a dry day to finish the pitch. That said the curator seems to think it wont be a green top in the full extent & it had been very dry until the weekend I believe so the pitch shouldnt really be damp, just not a lot done on it in recent days & therefore possibly a bit of live grass....although Clarke was taking about a lot of grass one end & bare the other. The other Clark was talking about they shouldnt have been playing the 1st test at the MCG as it doesnt give much to the bowlers....but this is why I say that will all due respect, they do chat a lot of s***e prior to tests

If there is a bit of moisture early on, although that could hurt India it might be their best chance of 20 wickets as well....& thats why I think its very hard to call, & personally think it'll be pretty close
Thats a lot of words to say I dont know what I'm doing

Edit - Ahh yes, I saw a stat somewhere that said India had only won 2 of the last 10 tests where they'd scored 550+, but they'd snap your hand off for a draw in this first test