Krejza tipped to debut

Australian captain Ricky Ponting has given every indication that uncapped off-spinner Jason Krejza will make his debut in the fourth and final Test starting in Nagpur on Thursday.

With India currently leading the series 1-0 and Australia needing a victory in the final Test to regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Ponting looks likely to turn to Krejza to replace Victorian all-rounder Cameron White.

Krejza, who has taken 43 wickets at 50.09 in 24 first-class games, failed to impress in the warm-up games in India, but Ponting said the 25-year-old was well in the mix to tackle India this time round.

"We have to consider Jason very heavily again for this game," Ponting said.

"He was very close last game and as things turned out he probably would have been a bit of a hand full late on that wicket."

"I think he has learnt a lot over the past few weeks. To be around this group and to bowl to better batsmen in the nets I think he has learnt a lot about off-spin bowling and that should hold him in good stead if he gets picked in the Test match."

Australia is yet to dismiss India twice in the one match this series and Ponting knows that his team must take 20 wickets in this Test if it is to regain the mantle as the No.1 Test nation in the world.

"We have got to find some way and some means to be able to do that and we have got to look at the balance of our team first and foremost," Ponting said.

"Are the guys we have taken into the first three Tests capable of taking 20 wickets here to win this last Test match? We need to sit down and have a really good think about that and talk about that."

"Once we have assessed the conditions a little bit more then we will come up with a balance with our bowling group that is going to be good enough to take 20 wickets for us."

While Krejza is tipped to replace White as the sole spinner in the side, Australia is likely to stick with the three-pronged pace attack of Brett Lee, Mitchell Johnson and Stuart Clark.

Ponting was impressed with how his pacemen bowled in the third Test and is confident that the trio will be able to trouble the Indian batsman once again.

"I thought our bowlers last week were a lot better, particularly in the second innings," Ponting said.

"It is a make or break game for this team and we thought with a game to go as the game went on we gained the upper hand so we can take that bit of confidence into this Test and hopefully get off to a very good start in the game."

"We haven't played our best cricket as yet, but hopefully that is just around the corner."