India are considering an unusual four-pronged pace attack for the third Test against Australia but won't settle on their final line-up until just before the match, said captain M.S. Dhoni. A grassy pitch has greeted the Indians at Perth's WACA Ground, with curator Cam Sutherland predicting the wicket would have more pace and bounce than the corresponding Test against England last year, when seam bowlers dominated and just two of 40 wickets fell to spin.
Down 2-0 in the four-Test series after losing by 122 runs at the MCG and being thrashed by an innings and 68 runs in Sydney, India are already certain to lose second spot in the ICC Test rankings, but Dhoni said they were desperate to avoid a repeat of last year's 4-0 whitewash in England.
Their desperation has them considering the unusual move of playing four pacemen and Dhoni, who normally doesn't take great stock in pitch conditions, said they would reserve their final decision until they inspect the strip just before the match, which starts Friday.
"A lot depends on how it looks before the start of the game," Dhoni said of the pitch, hinting that spinner Ravi Ashwin could miss the match. "It will affect us to some extent, especially in the bowling department. "We have to see how much grass is taken off and how much rolling is done and how hard the wicket is.
"We have to see whether the spinner will get some kind of assistance or not," he said. "Our bowling will be structured depending on the wicket." Dhoni, who said he would consider his own playing future at the end of 2013, again dismissed talk of a rift in the Indian side as purely media speculation. "I have never seen the Indian team fight," he said. "And this is one thing we are really proud of. "Our real strength is that we love each other and enjoy each other's successes.
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