Australia will miss McGrath, Warne: Ganguly

Indian captain Sourav Ganguly attempted to put the mighty Australians on the backfoot ahead of the four-match Test series, saying the hosts will miss the services of Glenn McGrath and Shane Warne who make a "huge difference" to the team.

"McGrath and Warney will be missed, no doubt about it. When they didn't play against England two years ago, Australia suffered in Sydney. They make a huge difference because they pick most wickets or have picked most wickets for their country in the last eight or ten years," Ganguly said.

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Fast bowler McGrath, nursing an ankle injury, has ruled himself out of the first two Tests while spin wizard Shane Warne is serving a year's ban for testing positive for a banned drug just before the World Cup in South Africa earlier this year.

Ganguly, hoping to beat the Australians on their soil, however, said the home side's back-up bowling has enough firepower to test the best line-up in the world.

"They have a good back-up strength and it will still be a very good attack for the Test," Ganguly said, referring to the likes of Jason Gillespie, Andy Bichel, Nathan Bracken and Brad Williams, who are part of the 12-member squad announced for the first Test.

Ganguly also wondered if Australia would go into the first Test with four fast bowlers, leaving out Stuart MacGill, the leg-spinner, from the playing eleven.

"MacGill has picked up a lot of wickets in the last two series, even otherwise he has been very successful," he said.

"But I really can't comment about their composition, only we have to be prepared to do our best."

Bracken, fresh from a tremendously successful tour of India, has a bright chance of playing in the first Test but the Indian captain said it remains to be seen how the left-arm paceman will cope in Test cricket.

"He bowled very well in India but Test is different. It would be good opportunity for him to learn cricket."

The Gabba pitch, which traditionally favours pacers, could behave differently this time as Queensland is witnessing one of the worst droughts in modern times. When Ganguly's attention was drawn to the fact, he said, "One can't say about it. The groundsman could still water it and help it quicken. We would have to wait and find out."

He also put to rest criticism from Victorian coach David Hookes, who attacked him for not sticking to a pre-match verbal arrangement -- 70 overs each for two sides in two innings during the three-day tour opener at Melbourne that ended in a tame draw yesterday.

"I don't know what he [Hookes] meant by it. It was the beginning of our tour and we needed to get used to it," Ganguly said.

"I told him it is easier for your side but our batters need enough time. We batted 90 overs (and then declared) and if they had done the same, we could still have had 45-45 overs for us in the second innings."

India scored 266 for nine declared in 90 overs before Brad Hodge pounded the bowlers for his 264 as Victoria closed their innings at 518 for eight in 134 overs.

"But I'm not complaining. Brad Hodge is on the fringe of selection… that is what I read in newspapers, and Victoria had reason to stretch their innings," Ganguly added.

"The point is, in a three-day game there is not enough time to get a side out twice. Win or loss is decided at the end of the fourth innings," he said.

"[David] Hooksey has made a statement. But there are better things to do and we must look ahead."

On tomorrow's three-day game against Queensland, which will be India's last warm-up match before the start of the first Test, Ganguly said his players are keen to have some "good practice".

"I hope we get good practice. We need a good outing for our batters and bowlers and this is what these side games are meant to be," he said, adding that the game will give the batsmen a chance to get adjusted to the bouncy tracks in Australia.

"There was a lot of bounce at MCG [venue of tour opener] and our batsmen coped with it. As a professional unit you just have to get used to it as quickly as possible."