M.S. Dhoni

Brisbane: The Indians have Australia on the ropes. Now, it’s just a matter of landing the knockout punch. One false step at The Gabba, though, and the roles could quickly be reversed.

That, then, is how things stand on the eve of finals No.2 of the Commonwealth Bank-sponsored tri-series.

A successful punch would, of course, also knock out the hopes of those seniors still keen on making a comeback in ODIs. And absolutely vindicated would be the captain, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Dhoni, however insisted he hadn’t set out to prove a point when he favoured the inclusion of youngsters.

“I didn’t have a point to prove… In fact, I’m not the sort to prove somebody wrong and go around saying that I was right… That’s not me,” Dhoni told The Telegraph.

But he’s delighted that his team is sitting pretty with a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three finals.

The one big worry is Ishant Sharma’s availability. The quick mysteriously hurt his right middle finger on Sunday and played no part in the first finals after the 20th over.

“Ishant looks a doubtful starter for Tuesday,” remarked manager Dr Bimal Soni, while acting coach Lalchand Rajput said: “We’ll wait till the last minute before deciding... I’m planning assuming he’ll be available…”

If anything, Ishant has quickly become indispensable.

The swelling, apparently, is less but the issue is whether Ishant can grip the ball. If he isn’t fit, then it’s expected that Munaf Patel will make a comeback.

Munaf bowls to his field, unlike a Sreesanth, and that makes Dhoni’s job so much easier.

As the Indians couldn’t have a look at the wicket (it was covered when Rajput went over on Monday afternoon), it couldn’t be confirmed whether the 3-2 bowling combination would continue or it would become 4-1.

Traditionally, the wicket here is the quickest in Australia.

The Australians are under severe pressure — “not an ideal situation” coach Tim Nielsen put it — and only a miracle may see a dramatic increase in the level of confidence.

At the same time, as their pride has been dented, they could actually come out with guns blazing in the manner befitting a world champion.

We could, therefore, have a cracker of a match.

“It would be inhuman not to have a little bit of a hit on confidence when you’re not getting the results you’re looking for,” Nielsen accepted.

He added: “We’re playing against an attack which is bowling very well… It’s a challenge… It’s the mental side of the game which is letting us down…”

The tri-series began at The Gabba a month ago, but both matches had to be abandoned because of rain.

On Monday, at least, the weather was excellent: Not too hot and the sky was clear.

Footnote: Dhoni and some of his teammates drove over to Mehfil, a distinctly upmarket Indian restaurant for dinner. It’s owned by Rajesh Sharma, a medium-pacer who turned out for Himachal in the mid-Nineties.

Match starts: 8.45am (IST).