Despits scores of 0, 13, 0 and 29, Matthew Hayden believes there's nothing exceptional about the Indian bowling attack.

By Shreyas Sharma

"It's nothing exceptional. This attack isn't much different to the ones before," the Queenslander told reporters after a training session at the Ferozeshah Kotla on Sunday.

"Fast bowling has been available for 10-15 overs, and then it has been spin. They've always been able to take advantage of reverse swing bowling as well. It's Australia's job to combat those similar kind of weapons or strike bowling abilities in India's attack," he added.

With all the talk surrounding the visitors' inexperience, Hayden believes the next 13 days of cricket (till the end of the series) will shape the way the Aussies want to play the game henceforward. "I was just trying to replicate what I'm looking forward to over the next thirteen days."

Part of the reason the visitors have failed to play their brand of free-flowing cricket in the series has been Hayden's failure at the top of the order. Since his breakthrough series in India in 2001, the big man has played 83 tests, scoring 7748 runs at an average of 56.97, and a healthy Test strike-rate of 61.30, with 29 hundreds, including the mammoth 380 against Zimbabwe, which was the world record score till Brian Lara reclaimed it with his legendary 400. And yet Hayden's bat has not been in the pink of health.

But not if you ask the man himself.

"Expectations have been high on the Australian cricket team, and are high on international athletes as a whole. There are my own expectations as well, and with two games to go, I expect to play very well. I've put in a lot of work over the last month, being in India, and it hasn't quite paid off. But I'm confident about the way I'm playing, and with a bit of the rub of the green, a big score for Hayden is right around the corner."

Staring at the 0-1 deficit in the series, one expects the Aussies to come back fighting, as was clear from Hayden's state of mind: "Australia are going to play very well in this game. We've set our sights on doing all the elements of the game very well - batting, bowling and fielding. Having those disciplines in our minds is a great way of going into a Test match. We have to understand that we have a fighting culture, one that does like to be under pressure, even though we haven't been behind in a series scoreboard for a long time."

But what about countering the single most devastating aspect of India's bowling this series, reverse swing? Hayden doesn't think too much of it: "Whenever we've come to the shores of India, the focus has always been on spin bowling. Reverse swing is something Australian cricketers have come across in the past, so we're not concentrating too heavily on it. I'm confident that our strategy is very good on reverse swing."

All said and done, it will be Aussie batting against Indian bowling at Kotla, and it remains to be seen whether the world champions can reverse their fortunes.