The thinking caps are on

Among them is Venkatesh Prasad, the bowling coach, who has undoubtedly worked wonders. Whether it is Irfan Pathan’s comeback, the taming of Sreesanth or even Ishant Sharma’s heroics Down Under, Prasad, the former India medium-pacer, has had a large role to play. He’s turned around what once appeared like a tumbling bowling arsenal into one of the world’s best. Now, he says, “it is time to test ourselves against a batting line-up that seems to be in tremendous form at the moment.”

SA’s broad bats

“This will be a good challenge. Our bowlers are mentally in a very strong position and they need to carry on from here. We have a very balanced attack and a strong bench that will keep pushing the players and that’s definitely a very good sign,” says Prasad.

The Indian team bowled in Australia at venues such as Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, where conditions were different from each other, some helpful and a few plain dead tracks. In India, says Prasad, “the real test will begin.”

While they have been bred on these Indian wickets, “the important thing is how well these bowlers can readjust themselves to the changing conditions.”

The Tests will be played at Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kanpur — none of which are too kind to seamers. Prasad feels that it will finally depend on how well the bowlers can stick to the basics. “Normally, it is possible that when you’ve seen the advantage of bowling on tracks that are more helpful, you tend to slide with a few basics. If the bowler can understand that, use his strengths well and concentrate on the variation,...