Cricket world no longer fears the Baggy Greens

Sydney, Nov 8: With the last Test match in Nagpur between India and Australia poised excitingly, it seems that Australia will lose the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

The vulnerability of the Australian team has been exposed on Indian soil and the cricketing world feels that the 'Baggy Greens' will no more be feared.

"There are cracks in their make-up, certainly. Every side goes through a rebuilding phase, and Australia are going through that right now. Senior players will be under a bit more pressure to perform with a lot of inexperienced guys in the team," South Africa coach Micky Arthur was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald.

Arthur felt that the retirement of legendry leg-spinner Shane Warne has created a huge vaccum in the team.

"There are one or two cracks in their make-up, and the spin bowling issue will remain with them for the going forward. The lack of a spinner is putting more pressure on their quicks, too. We had the same situation a couple of years ago, and it means the quicks end up bowling a lot more overs and their comeback spells are not as explosive," he added.

England coach Peter Moores felt that the biggest challenge for Australia is to find slow bowlers with the kind of experience and know-how that Shane Warne had.

"It won't be easy. If you take two all-time great bowlers and a world-class wicketkeeper-batsman and an outstanding opening batsman out of any team, it takes time to replace them," he said.

Sri Lanka's coach Trevor Bayliss feels that India is improving and taking the fight to Australia.

"We've just beaten India in a Test series, and I was very impressed with the younger players they have coming through in their one-day side. They're not all that far away from pushing their way into the Test side. They're young, athletic and very confident, and will be around for 10 or more years," he said.

Bayliss felt that Australia still has a very potent attack but not with the consistency and ability to take wickets on a consistent basis.

Former Pakistan Intikhab Alam, and now coach of the national team, said that the lack of depth in fast bowling is Australia's main problem.

"Apart from Brett Lee, who is their obvious strike bowler, there does not seem to be a lot of depth. They have not done enough with the old ball in India, especially in regards to reverse swing, and have been shown up by Ishant Sharma and Zaheer Khan," he said.