We have seen the referral system tried out at Wimbledon and it worked really well. There is no reason to believe that it will not work in cricket too.

To be around for 20 years during which Sachin Tendulkar has played 160 Tests and 436 ODIs is a tribute to his skill, fitness and zest for the game.

It's obvious that like Sunil Gavaskar Tendulkar will go out on a high - and on his own terms. The glorious 175 the other day at Hyderabad underlines this.

There is also one more lacuna in the squad that has to be filled and that is the lack of an all-rounder. There is no doubting what such a quality player could achieve and one has just to see Shane Watson's record in the current series.

Over the years, we have had any number of examples of Aussie grit under pressure and the series served as a tribute to their resilient qualities. This is one quality that they possess in abundance.

In pure arithmetic, India will have to win all three matches if they are to topple the Aussies and to put it in simple terms, this seems most unlikely despite the fact that the Aussie injury list is growing by the day.

Going by his enthralling knock, Dhoni obviously did not let all the talk about him batting up the order affect him in any way.

As far as this seven-match series is concerned, it would be better to sit on the fence; predicting the winner on the eve of the match is going to be an exercise fraught with danger.

The experienced Australian captain is no stranger to mind games, but this time his refrain has been that India are a tough side to beat at home.

Obviously, a spirit of unity prevails as Ganga's men are clearly driven by the pride of carrying the flag of the only sovereign nation among the 12 participating teams.