India's batting has come good till now with Ajay Jadeja playing a key role in the middle order. Despite the failure of Sachin Tendulkar with the bat at Kochi and Vadodara, the Indians have managed to put up formidable totals.

However, on the bowling front, the injury to India's strike bowler Javagal Srinath has been a big problem. Venkatesh Prasad, recalled after being neglected for a long time, struggled against Zimbabwe at Vadodara. But luckily for India, two of their relatively young faces, Hrishikesh Kanitkar and Rahul Sanghvi have risen to the occasion. Besides, the Indians have come up better in tight situations till now.

Fatigue could also be a factor tomorrow as the Indians have had a tough journey to Kanpur. Theylanded here late in the afternoon after travelling from Vadodara to Delhi and from there to Lucknow and finally to Kanpur by road. Naturally, they preferred to skip practice and take it easy in their hotel rooms.

The Australians, however, had a two-hour session at the venue in the evening. Skipper Steve Waugh said pacer Michael Kasprowicz, who missed the the game against Zimbabwe, was fit and ready to play. After a look at the wicket, Steve Waugh said, ``It looks pretty good. There should be plenty of runs on this wicket tomorrow.'' He added that the team was looking for a better performance here after having played two tough games.

About Srinath's absence, Waugh said it would be more difficult for the home team as ``he is a quality bowler.''

Jaywant Lele, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, who is here, said, ``There is nothing wrong with Srinath. He just has a side strain. He will be considered whenever he is fit.''

The selectors (Ajit Wadekar is already here) are expected toname the skipper for the Coca-Cola Cup in Sharjah (April 17-24) tomorrow afternoon and the rest of the Indian team by evening.

The city of Kanpur is all geared up for the big match. There have been long queues of spectators seeking tickets which, according to officials, have been sold out. In fact, there was no UPCA official at the venue or in the team hotel. There were also reports of stone throwing by ticket seekers at the residence of the UPCA secretary Jyoti Bajpai, who is also the joint secretary of the BCCI. Police protection has been provided to him.

The Teams

India (from): Mohammed Azharuddin (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Vinod Kambli, Ajay Jadeja, Ajit Agarkar, Nayan Mongia, VVS Laxman, Anil Kumble, Venkatesh Prasad, Debashish Mohanty, Hrishikesh Kanitkar, Rahul Sanghvi and Harbhajan Singh.

Australia (from): Steve Waugh (captain), Shane Warne (vice-capt), Adam Gilchrist, Michael Bevan, Damien Fleming, Michael Kasprowicz, Darren Lehmann, Damien Martyn, TomMoody, Ricky Ponting, Gavin Robertson, Mark Waugh and Adam Dale.

Umpires: MR Singh and CK Sathe.

Third umpire: Satish Gupta