India coach John Wright says a tough battle awaits his team in the fourth One-Day International tri-series match against Australia on November 1 in Mumbai.
The Aussies recovered quickly from the thrashing they received from India in their opening match at Gwalior and handed out a lesson to New Zealand in their next match, bowling out their neighbours for 97 runs and winning the match by eight wickets.
Wright said he watched the match and was impressed by the young Australian fast bowlers.
"Australia took full advantage of the conditions like any international side should. We know they will come back [against India] in Mumbai. It will be a tough game," he said.
He indicated he is likely to stick with the same combination used for the Gwalior game.
"I would not envisage wholesale changes for the game against Australia in Mumbai," he said.
"Left-arm fast bowler Ashish Nehra will almost certainly not play the match. Nehra has been practising. He is one of those bowlers who will certainly play when he is fit. We want to see as much of him as possible but we do not want to rush him either, because he is very important to us.
"He has been bowling in nets and working with Andrew Leipus. So that way he is very fit. He may come into consideration for next three games," he added.
Earlier, Nehra spoke to the media and indicated he is ready to return to action. The Delhi bowler has been practicing with his Ranji team mates and feels it is only a matter of time before he resumes playing international cricket.
"I want to play the last four games but it depends on the team management and the selectors," said Nehra.
A lot of fringe players have been turning up for the team's training sessions. Wright says it is a policy adopted by the team.
"We try to encourage as many players to attend sessions with the team. Nehra is helping us here [in Mumbai]. [Sridharan] Sriram turned up in Chennai. Aavishkar Salvi will also be seen here. In consultation with the selectors, we try and help them whenever possible," Wright said.
Though India skipper Sourav Ganguly is out of action as he is nursing a minor injury, the team has performed pretty well without him.
"I spoke to Sourav two days back and we are obviously very keen to have him back. But we will have to see how it goes in the next few days. Sourav is the best judge. Obviously, we will have him back," said Wright.
Yuvraj Singh's promotion up the order in the Gwalior match was a brilliant move. And given the youngster's showing it won't be surprising if he bats in the same position in the Mumbai match.
But Wright says that decision is the captain's.
"Ask the captain. He makes the changes... the batting and the bowling changes. That is my style of coaching. I can make a suggestion, but the captain takes the final decision. Yuvraj is a very destructive batsman in the last fifteen overs of the game. The captain took decision and it was a good choice," he said.
Wright feels one-day cricket is all about making changes to the batting and bowling as and when they are required. "You have to be flexible enough to see the need to make a change and do it," he said, adding, "Reacting to whatever is happening on the field is very important."
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