All the guys in this team are proven match-winners

The Australian team went to take a look at the Chepauk pitch on Saturday morning, and what they saw was not unexpected. It looks a good pitch to bat on, but there is no doubt that it will assist spin sooner than later. I know that I have my work cut out in Chennai and am going about my preparation as I normally do in India. Since the surface is hard and abrasive, the ball will probably begin to reverse swing on the first day itself, and as a fast bowler that is my best chance.

However, as I always say, you never know what can happen till you are out there in the middle. I don't mind bowling in India and in the Mumbai and Calcutta Test I got five and seven wickets, respectively. I hope the trend will continue, which means I'll get nine wickets here. I always do the best I can, aiming at taking roughly five a Test. Obviously the ideal scenario would have me take Laxman twice and Tendulkar twice, but I am quite happy to dismiss any batsman I get to bowl at.

After the Calcutta Test, the entire team took a break from cricket on Friday. We had the day to ourselves and basically rested after a really tough game. Today we had a chat with the batsmen getting together to sort some things out and the bowlers also having some sort of a meeting. Other than that we trained as we always do, and are preparing for this match as we would for any other.

There have been reports that Warney did not fare well and his place is in some jeopardy, but there is nothing to these rumours. What happened in Calcutta was just one of those things. I am pretty sure that he will do well in Chennai on a pitch that will give him a great deal of assistance. Further, the criticism and flak he is receiving from the media will only serve to fire him up on the eve of this all-important match. Some sections of the media claim that Stuart MacGill should have been part of the team. I think "what if" is a very futile term and there is no end to speculations. It's best to think of the players we do have here, and all the guys in this team are proven match-winners.

Colin Miller is almost certainly going to play a crucial role in the Test. A good off-spinner he gets a great deal of spin and bounce when he bowls. He did well in the warm-up game he played in and hopefully he will do to India in Chennai what Harbhajan did to us in Calcutta. Our bowling attack is still very confident because the fact of the matter is that we have got India out cheaply nine of the last 10 innings we have played them.

In Calcutta too, we were defeated by just one partnership. We have faith in our abilities and know that this is a very capable bowling attack. For instance, Jason Gillespie was very unlucky in the second innings at Calcutta. The batsmen did play and miss on a number of occasions, and there is no point reading too much into our inability to get Laxman and Dravid out.

The other area of concern is the fact that the middle order has not scored too many runs in the series. I would like to think that this means that they are due for a big score in Chennai. It was very disappointing to see the way the middle order collapsed in the last session in Calcutta. From the position we were in they could have at least salvaged a draw.

However, I know that they would be as disappointed as anybody else in the team and I'm sure Mark and Ricky will put their hands up and rise to the challenge in this last Test.

As I mentioned earlier the team did get together to discuss a few things, and we have revised our gameplan a little bit. Our self-belief is still in tact and this one defeat notwithstanding, we still back ourselves to win this series.

- Gameplan

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