India would appear to have shown their hand ahead of the first Test against Australia beginning next Wednesday. It is more or less certain now that Rahul Dravid will partner Wasim Jaffer at the Melbourne Cricket Ground after the former skipper opened the batting against Victoria Bushrangers at the Junction Oval on a severely weather-hit Thursday.

Even as the wisdom behind going into the Test series against the World champions with only one practice game under the belt was being questioned, India's preparations were dealt serious blows — first by the weather, then by a left-arm journeyman pacer answering to the name of Allan Wise.

To round off a less than satisfactory first day in office, the heavens opened up with rare fury a little after 4.15 pm, subjecting the already saturated ground to a tremendous battering and raising serious questions about the prospect of play on the morrow.

Heavy overnight and early morning rains had ensured that play didn't begin until 1.30 pm, two and a half hours behind schedule. After stand-in skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni chose to bat, India saw their top blown away by the 28-year-old Wise, before the determination of Dravid and the flair of Sourav Ganguly took them to a respectable, if not satisfying, 110 for three in the two and a half hours of play possible.

Rich vein of form

Apart from Dravid setting stall and returning to somewhere near his focussed best, and Ganguly continuing his recent rich vein of form, India had little reason to look back at Thursday's proceedings with fondness. There was neither spite nor venom — not from the relatively placid Junction Oval strip with reasonable bounce the only factor, and most certainly not from a second-choice Bushrangers attack.

The stage had been perfectly set for the Indian top-order to play itself among the runs, but Wasim Jaffer, VVS Laxman and an attack-minded Sachin Tendulkar all fell playing strokes, only Laxman at one-drop a tad unlucky to be caught down leg attempting a tickle.

Not for the first time, India were undone by a little-known left-arm seamer. Nicknamed Mule, Wise has modest returns of 81 wickets from 26 first-class games, but the Indians made him look in the Wasim Akram class as they gifted their scalps away with casual disdain. Jaffer went into a pull too early in his innings to put up a catch for mid-off, while Tendulkar's forcing stroke off the back foot was defeated by the slowness of the delivery as he dragged the ball on.

All along, though, Dravid was a picture of concentration, if not always supreme confidence. The former captain hasn't exactly been in awesome run-scoring form, and his elevation to the opening slot was borne out of the necessity to find a slot for the in-form Yuvraj Singh in the middle-order. Dravid is a reluctant opener, but the job had to be done, and he perhaps didn't need too much convincing that he was best suited of the rest of the middle-order pack for that role.

A long chat with Sunil Gavaskar much before the toss may nor may not have helped; once he strode out to the middle, Dravid put all other thoughts behind him, taking it upon himself to blunt the threat posed by Peter Siddle and Wise. The heaviness of the outfield meant there wasn't always value for strokes, but that didn't seem to affect Dravid, who gradually slipped back to doing what he relishes most — occupy the crease and grind out a score.

Ganguly looked in continued good touch, suffering for neither timing nor grace. Wise's angle didn't pose him too much trouble, while the support seamers were just about the right pace for him to play with characteristic elan through the off-side. His systematic dismantling of the highly talked about leg-spinner Bryce McGain — at 35 still hopeful of a Sydney call-up against the Indians — was as breathtaking as it was Ganguly at his intelligent run-seeking best.

Earlier in the day, Anil Kumble chose to rest himself to allow his young quicks a feel of bowling with the Kookaburra in a match situation. Zaheer Khan too was given the game off, though he did bowl at nets.