Ricky Ponting and Cameron White in Guwahati on Friday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati: India and Australia flew into Guwahati on Friday for the sixth one-dayer here on Sunday, but the hosts will have all the catching up to do now.

A win for Australia here will give them a decisive lead in the seven-match series, making the last game in Mumbai redundant.

On the other hand, if India win, the hosts will not only level the series but will also turn the last tie into a decider. The pressure is, therefore, clearly on the hosts to keep the seven-match series alive.

Tickets for the match — the first to be held since the India-Pakistan encounter in 2007 and after the India-England tie got cancelled last year because of the Mumbai terror attacks — has been sold out in advance.

Thursday night’s humdinger in Hyderabad and Sachin Tendulkar’s epochal knock has also generated an unprecedented interest in the match. Curator Ratul Das has indicated that the wicket would be “sporting”, even though the Nehru Stadium is not known for big scores. Only twice has a team scored 300-plus runs in the 14 matches held here so far since 1983.

The first was by the West Indies (306/6 in 50 overs) against New Zealand (171/9 in 50 overs) on November 1, 1994. The second and the highest score on this ground was by India (333/6 in 50 overs) against Zimbabwe (232 in 42.1 overs) on March 19, 2002.

The last match saw India making 242/5 in 47 overs chasing Pakistan’s 239/7 in 50 overs on November 5, 2007. Australia have played twice on this ground while India ten times.

Both teams reached the city by a chartered flight at around 3.45 pm and went straight to their respective hotels located at two extreme ends of the city, waved and cheered by fans. Drawing the maximum applause was Sachin, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh.

Similar scenes were also witnessed in front of the hotel where the Australians had been put up with their captain Ricky Ponting emerging the fans’ favourite. The police had to act tough to stop them from going overboard.

Expectedly, the mood was upbeat in both camps. The visitors are expected to have nets in the morning. Andrew McDonald, the Victorian all-rounder who was named as replacement for the injured Moises Henriques, and Burt Cockley, a fast bowler from New South Wales who is replacing Peter Siddle, have joined the team.

“McDonald came early in the afternoon, while Cockley arrived in the evening,” Nagesh Singh, former East Zone spinner and liaison officer for the Australia team, said.

Given the interest in the game, the district administration has thrown a three-tier security blanket for the smooth conduct of the match, the 15th to be allotted to the city, not because of any specific threat but as a “preventive” measure.

Besides armed security personnel, spotters in civil dress have also been deployed within and outside the stadium. “ We are ready for the match. Everything is in place,” said Assam Cricket Association secretary Bikash Baruah.