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NEW DELHI - Off-spinner Jason Krejza could be poised for his Australian debut in the third test against India, with a pitch inspection this afternoon deciding whether he or Cameron White gets the nod.
Krejza, nicknamed "Crazy", was seemingly belted out of test calculations when he returned figures
of 0-199 from 31 overs in Australia's pre-series tour game at Hyderabad.
But the influence and advice of India's senior spin statesman Bishen Bedi this week appears to have pushed his case more effectively than any bowling spell.
Bedi was a guest at an Australian High Commission reception also attended by the Australians last week, and after a request from team manager Steve Bernard later showed up to assist Krejza in the nets.
Ponting said the tourists were seriously considering Krejza instead of White as a more aggressive bowling option in the test which the Australians, trailing 0-1, must win to have a chance of taking out the four-match series.
"I'm not sure how it came around that (Bedi) was there... speaking to Jason, Bishen's been helpful and he's also had some good things to say about Jason which has probably been good for him," Ponting said.
"He's definitely in the reckoning, the wicket is a little bit loose on the surface, that would indicate late in the game it will probably loosen up more, so spin is a definite option for us.
"Jason is more of an attacking, aggressive sort of bowler, he does get the ball in the air and put a lot of revs on the ball, spins the ball, gets a lot of overspin on the ball as well, so you'd probably look at him as more of a wicket-taker than a containing type of spinner."
The enigmatic and so far underprepared nature of the Kotla ground surface has also influenced Ponting to keep his options open.
"I'm not sure where preparation-wise he's actually up to with the wicket just yet, both ends right at the moment are being watered and quite wet and the middle looks like it needs a bit more rolling," Ponting said.
"But we all know how quickly the wickets can change over here with the heat."
Brett Lee, Matthew Hayden and Ponting himself are among several senior players who need to lift their their performances over the next five days, something the captain freely admitted.
But he was encouraged by training sessions that former captain and Delhi visitor Steve Waugh said were among the strongest he had ever seen.
"We can't do any more than we've done," Ponting said.
"Our training the past two days has been the best I've seen it for a long time.
"Steve Waugh was at training yesterday and he said he'd never seen a team train as well as we did - that's good stuff to hear.
"Our meeting heading into training on Monday was very good, we did things slightly differently, put it back on the guys to come up with things they need to start doing and we need to stop doing."
Of his own need to show up today as a batsman as well as captain, Ponting was frank.
"I've got to stand up as much as the next bloke, it's been three innings since I had an impact on the game with the bat," he said.
"I've tried to completely dismiss last week.
"It was one of those games where we were totally outplayed and what you've got to do is look at reasons why."
Australia
Ricky Ponting (capt), Matthew Hayden, Simon Katich, Mike Hussey, Michael Clarke, Shane Watson, Brad Haddin, Cameron White, Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson, Stuart Clark, Jason Krejza (12th man tba).
India
Anil Kumble (capt), Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, Sourav Ganguly, Mahendra Dhoni, Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra (12th man tba).
- AAP