But whether it has been the fighting partnership between Harbhajan Singh and Praveen Kumar at Vadodara, Yuvraj Singh’s gritty 78 on the low and slow Kotla track or Ravindra Jadeja’s consistency with the ball, India have found unlikely heroes in the series so far. While the hosts crushed the Aussies in Nagpur and were dominant for most of the third ODI, the two defeats have come as a result of their failure in giving finishing touches.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni insists his team is looking for the more fancied stars to come to the party on Thursday as both teams look to regain the series lead at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

“After we levelled the series at Nagpur, I had said we have to take it as a five-match series and now it is down to the last three. We cannot afford any more off days,” Dhoni said.

While Dhoni leads the tally in the series with 255 runs at 85 per innings, India’s illustrious opening pair of Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag is yet to fire. The responsibility of resurrecting the innings has fallen each time on the broad shoulders of the Indian captain. Tendulkar — seven short of the 17, 000 run mark in ODI cricket — has averaged 22.50 while Sehwag — though he has scored quickly — too has struggled to make the most of his starts.

Good start crucial

“It is crucial to get a good start as we can then dictate terms throughout the innings. We cannot keep relying on the lower-order batsmen to bail us out, especially while chasing, and I am hoping for bigger scores from the top order,” said Dhoni, adding that India had always done well when the top six batsmen fired.

India, though, will welcome back left-hander Gautam Gambhir, who has already scored two half-centuries, after he missed out in Mohali due to a neck injury.

Australia came to India banking heavily on the experience of Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey in the absence of Michael Clarke. And the duo haven’t disappointed scoring three half-centuries each and have been instrumental in their team remaining alive in the series despite being plagued by a series of injuries.

The visitors may be a battered and bruised outfit — already having lost four of their original 14 squad members — but have displayed the notorious Aussie grit and churned out two hard-fought victories.

“Having so many injuries has been unsettling and we have been forced to change our personnel for every game. But whether it was Ponting opening the innings or Shaun Marsh batting lower down, we have improvised and have fought really hard,” said coach Tim Nielsen.

“Ricky is a great player and has carried his brilliant form from England and South Africa here. Michael has responded amazingly to the responsibility of shepherding the middle-order too,” he added. And Australia had another addition to their casualty list with all-rounder Moises Henriques —who was flown in as a replacement for James Hopes — being ruled out with a hamstring strain. “We would have had Hopes batting for us at No 7 in an ideal scenario, but now we will again have to adjust our team composition as having five bowlers is a must in these conditions,” said Nielsen.

Dhoni though is not surprised by the fight displayed by the visitors nor with the present scoreline. “We expect Australia to always fight till the end regardless of the resources they have,” he said.

Henriques heads home

Henriques will return to Australia later on Wednesday while Andrew McDonald and Burt Cockley will be flown in, according to a Cricket Australia press release.