It has been rather amusing reading the predictions by Harbhajan Singh and the director of operations at the National Cricket Academy, Dav Whatmore, as to how India has to be the favourite to win the ensuing Test series against Australia. Hope they are right.

Whatmore would have nothing to do with the series, while Harbhajan would be one of the main Indian spinners. Let them not forget what they have predicted. It is important to remember too that the Australians are embarking on the tour without Andrew Symonds. It can be taken as an indication that they are quietly confident.

It is true that they have brought in some new faces. But there must be excellent reasons for this. Basically, it is the one spinner that must be accommodated, for otherwise the playing eleven picks itself. And if Watson plays either as an opening batsman or at number six, it indicates the strength of the team, which would not be short of balance.

When Australia had Shane Warne or Stuart MacGill or both, it had to give them a lot of bowling. In the last series here, Warne was given a holding job to do while the fast-medium bowlers attacked. The tactics paid off and India’s batting, though replete with big names, looked vulnerable.

The question that is being asked is: can any one of the new spinners can do the holding job?

We will know soon enough when the series get under way. It would be foolish to under-rate any spinner from Australia, because there you do not get into the team by rolling the ball. You have to spin it. The Australian spinners are told that spin is more important than accuracy, like taking wickets is more important than saving runs.

Aggression has been the key to Australia’s success. This team is going to have this philosophy too. It is for the Indians to throw down the gauntlet. If need be, Australia might depend on a four-man pace attack, leaving the spin bowling to the vice captain Michael Clarke and Simon Katich, if he gets a look in.

For India to win, it needs to have pitches that assist the spinners. Former captain Ajit Wadekar is a firm believer in playing three spinners at home, and to have the pitches that suit them. Sometimes one wishes Wadekar continued as the cricket manager and India is spared the advice of a foreign coach, who knows very little of Indian conditions.

Greg Chappell is to assist the Australian team in its preparations and he is extremely thorough. Let us keep our fingers crossed and get back to Harbhajan and Whatmore when the series is over. At the moment all the talk is a matter of counting one’s chickens before they have hatched.