Allan Border: Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Johnson would be a very good attack

All credit to both India and Australia for the way they went about things in Adelaide. The conditions were very good for batting throughout. It was tougher for the bowlers, but I thought both teams should be patted on the back for the way they approached the Test.

For India, it would have been very tempting to just shut up shop and play for a draw on the last day, but at no stage did they contemplate anything other than going for the runs. So that’s a huge tick for Virat Kohli and the Indians.

It was a great performance from Nathan Lyon. He had been struggling to take wickets both in domestic cricket and on the recent tour of the United Arab Emirates. But things started to happen for him in Adelaide and he was impressive in the first innings, when the pitch was at its absolute best.

Expectations are high to bowl your team to victory on the last day and I suppose we have been spoilt by Shane Warne, who used to do it time and again. Nathan hasn’t been able to do it consistently for us, so this will give him a lot of confidence.

Now, off to the Gabba, and having Mahendra Singh Dhoni back will be a great plus — he’s just world class. But Kolhi has set the standard and it will be up to MS to follow suit.

The Australians will be tough to beat — we’ve got a fantastic record at the Gabba over the last 15 to 20 years so history is against India. India should enjoy the conditions but there will be a lot more pace and bounce than they found in Adelaide, so from the batting point of view they are going to have to work hard.

I think India made a mistake not including an experienced spinner in Adelaide. The spin option, Karn Sharma, was a man on debut so that was always going to be very difficult on a really batsman-friendly surface. And the back-up spin was so-so. It would have been handy to have Ravichandran Ashwin or Ravindra Jadeja in those circumstances.

Ashwin’s away record hasn’t been great, but the Australians respect him and he’d probably be my first choice. But I’m a bit of a Jadeja fan. I like what he brings to the game — he’s pretty feisty and I believe that Australia have more troubles with left-arm spin than right-arm off-spin.

I get the feeling that Australia will not make too many changes, but I personally would bring Josh Hazlewood in for Peter Siddle. Josh is about 6 foot 7, bowls good pace and would offer something different at the Gabba. He and Mitchell Johnson would be a very good attack to take to the Indians.

I like the fact that both sides have built up a fantastic rivalry and want to play good, positive, hard-nosed cricket. There generally is a result in Brisbane and, honestly, I think it’s going to be very hard for India. I don’t want to set the cat among the pigeons, but I’d say it’s probably 60-40 to Australia.

— Gameplan